Budding
by FlowerPot21
Summary: GS,CW After solving a murder case in the mysteious New Orleans, rumors circulate about Cath and Warrick's strange behavior; Grissom and Sara contemplate their relationship.
1. Default Chapter

Budding

Grissom walked briskly through the halls of CSI, assignments for his nightshift team in hand. 

He got to the break room, and saw Warrick and Catherine.

"Hey," he said. "What are you two doing back from New Orleans so early?"

"Oh, well, nice to see you too Grissom," Catherine greeted him. 

"We finished the case early," Warrick explained. "It was weird. Turns out it was an elaborate scheme. The police was selling evidence in all kinds of murder trials. Come to find out they've been doing it for years. We broke that case wide open."

"Oh, well, nice to have you two back," Grissom said. "Because I have another murder for you to solve."

Catherine got up and took the slip from Grissom.

"Thank you," she said. "I'm driving Warrick."

"Oh Lord," he said as he followed her out.

"Nick, you've got a robbery at an exclusive night club, one person shot," Grissom said, handing him the slip. "Be thorough."

"Will do boss," Nick said on the way out.

"Sara, you're with me," Grissom explained. "I saved the fun stuff for us. A floater down in Lake Mead."

"Ooh," she said with a smile. "Sounds like lots of fun."

***

Nick caught up with Warrick on the way to the DNA labs.

"Hey Warrick," he said.

"Hey," Warrick said as he looked through some photos of the crime scene.

"So, did you and Cath have a nice time in New Orleans?" Nick asked with a sly smile.

"Nick man, it wasn't a vacation," Warrick chuckled. "We were down there for a murder case, not for Mardi Gras."

"I know, but that didn't stop you two from seeing the nightlife," Nick said. "From what I hear, they had you two working days, which means-"

"That nights were for sleeping," Warrick interrupted. "What exactly are you implying?"

"I'm not implying anything," Nick said defensively. "I was just asking if you ever checked out the city. By the way, I didn't ask about Miami."

"I'm not having this conversation with you," Warrick said as they entered the realm of Greg.

As usual, Greg was listening to his head phones, so he was inattentive at the moment.

"Hey Einstein," Warrick shouted into his ear.

Greg jumped and took off the headphones. 

"Jesus, Warrick," he said, rubbing his ear. "You want me to go deaf."

Nick picked up the blasting headphones. "I think you're doing that to yourself bro."

Greg mocked amusement. "What can I do for you gentlemen?"

"Get us our results," Nick said. "Hurry up, my case is hot."

"Lab scuttlebutt tells me something's hotter," Greg said, looking over at Warrick. "Just what exactly did you and Catherine do down in the Big Easy?"

"What is this?" Warrick asked, irritated. "Love Connection? We went down there to investigate a murder."

"That's not what I hear," Greg said teasingly.

"Anyway," Warrick said. "What have you got?"

"Well, for your case, the hair from the carpet isn't a match to your victim," Greg told Warrick. "Sorry dude. Now Nick, the fingernail left by the desk, match to a Brenda Guada-jada- something."

He handed them their papers.

Catherine walked into the DNA lab, also looking for results.

"Hey guys," she said. 

"Hey," they all said.

"Cath, the hair from the carpet doesn't match the victim," Warrick told her.

She groaned. "Then who else was at that scene?"

"I don't know," Warrick said. "People say that this woman was practically a hermit. She didn't let anybody in or out of her house."

"Greg run this hair through CODIS, see if you can identify its owner," Catherine said. "Well, I have some good news. I know the cause of death."

"Really?" Warrick asked. "What was it?"

Catherine smiled. "Follow me."

Warrick opened the door for her and they walked out, heading for the morgue.

Nick and Greg looked at each other.

"Did you see that?" Nick asked.

"Yeah, they've totally got the hots for each other, that's been pretty evident for the past what? Seven years?" Greg said.

"I know, but I think they've acted on it," Nick said with a smile. "While they were in New Orleans."

"It's very possible that could've happened," Greg said. "Without Grissom supervision, anything goes."

***

"So, do you think that it was a suicide?" Warrick asked Catherine as they chatted in the hallway.

"Doc said that it's quite possible," Catherine mentioned. "Unless we get a hit off that sample-"

"Catherine, Warrick," Grissom interrupted them. "Could you two come to my office please?"

They looked at each other strangely before following Grissom to his office.

"What's up," Warrick asked.

"Close the door please," Grissom said. 

Catherine closed the door, then she sat down.

Grissom took off his glasses and set them aside. Catherine knew that a touchy subject was going to arise, she didn't know whether it was going to be about the case, her daughter, or what. But Warrick was in there, so it had something to do with the both of them.

"Just what exactly happened in New Orleans?" Grissom asked.

"What do you mean?" Catherine asked.

"I mean, did something strange happen while you two were down there?"

Catherine and Warrick looked at each other. This line of questioning was leading down some dangerous territory. In their eyes, they could both see that they hadn't forgotten about the little incident that happened that also happened to change their relationship as far as being friends goes, but other than that, what was Grissom implying?

"What do you mean strange?" Catherine asked.

"I mean, like something happened other than what I sent you two down there for," Grissom said.

"No, nothing out of the ordinary happened," Warrick said. "That city is a little freaky, but other than that, everything went smoothly."

Grissom nodded at this.

"Well, there have been…implications that you two were not doing what you were supposed to do," Grissom said.

"Well, those _implications_ aren't true," Catherine said, looking nervously at Warrick. "Look, we went down there, sweated like pigs in that unbearable heat, solved a case, and came back. We didn't do anything 'strange' as you put it while we were down there."

"Okay," Grissom said.

Warrick and Catherine got up and left the office.

What happened in New Orleans?


	2. Chapter Two

Budding

Chapter Two

__

"Well, let me get ya'll to the hotel, and then when you get settled, you can drop by our lab and get debriefed on the sitiation."

Catherine looked back at Warrick and mouthed, "Sitiation?"

He only shrugged his shoulders and followed her lead.

Frank Halloway talked Warrick and Catherine to death on the way to their hotel. The rain was coming down hard, and Halloway had to make several detours to get to their destination, and it just seemed to prolong the drive. Catherine groaned almost inaudibly as she rested her head on Warrick's shoulder and fell asleep.

They finally made it to the Plantation Inn, a mansion style hotel.

"Well, it looks like the little lady went to sleep," he observed. "Why don't we get the luggage to the rooms and then wake her up?"

Warrick could only agree.

When he came back down, Warrick woke Catherine up and she climbed out of the car and stretched.

When the entered the lobby, the Chief of Police was waiting for them.

"Hi there," he said. "I'm Chief Charmaigne, and I'm going to make this short as possible. Welcome to the great Parish of New Orleans, and uh, we're honored to have two of the top CSIs from the number two crime lab in the country."

"Thank you sir," Catherine said.

"Thank you," Warrick repeated.

"We should be thanking you," the Chief said. "Now, ya'll look bushed, so, I'll just move the briefing to tomorrow afternoon at three. Get some rest, and again, on behalf of the Parish of New Orleans, welcome."

Catherine smiled and she crashed on the plush pillow top bed.

"Bed," she moaned happily.

"Somebody's sleepy," Warrick teased.

"Shut up," she growled. "Oh, wait until you feel this bed, you won't be laughing, you'll be sleeping your ass off."

Warrick chuckled. "You've got major jet lag."

"Shut up and go away," Catherine said, turning over in the fluffy bed to face him. "Or are you afraid of the dark?"

"You are too much," Warrick chuckled.

Catherine darted her eyes at him and got up off the bed. She swayed her hips sensually until she was mere inches away from his body.

"Goodnight, Warrick Brown," she whispered huskily before closing the door. She added to the drama by locking the door so that it was loud enough to hear.

Warrick ran a hand over his face and sighed.

***

Sara paced around the water logged car, contemplating where to start. She had her jumpsuit on, and she had a box of tools waiting for her. She fondly remembered her father teaching her how to fix a car. Before her father was an innkeeper, he was a skilled mechanic, and since his daughter was trying as hard as she could to not be ladylike, as her mother tried to teach her to be, he figured he may as well teach some basic mechanics.

She decided that she would start on the undercarriage, since the car did drive over a cliff.

She got on the slab and slid under the car. Everything seemed in tact, so Sara moved on to the interior. 

The upholstery was ruined, and there were tiny fish inside on the floor. The windshield was cracked at the driver's side, and the front was smashed in, indicating an accident before the car went over the cliff.

"Sara," she heard Grissom call.

Sara stood up straighter and took down her hair and swished it around before turning to face him.

She had no idea what she did to him just doing that string of poetic motion.

"What?" She asked. "You broke my chain of thought."

"Sorry," he said, coming out of the spell she cast on him. "I came to see what kind of progress you were making."

"Oh, well," she started. "It's pretty obvious that this car was involved in a head on collision, no doubt about that," Sara explained. "Now, the only thing that's bothering me about this is, why would a guy involved in a high speed head on collision, drive over a cliff? I mean, there's no sign that it was pushed, or that the vehicle was altered in any way."

"So, what?" Grissom said as he stepped closer to her. "Are you ruling an accident?"

"Not entirely," she said. "There was another set of wheels at the scene, Hodges is looking at them right now."

They were very close to each other and Sara knew that she had to move right away before her body reacted. The last time they were in close proximity, they almost kissed and would invariably had sex up against that sheet. That's how much she wanted Grissom. If her career was going to be on the line, so be it. She loved him longer than she'd been holding down her job as a forensic scientist.

Sara stepped aside and went to the other side of the car to be safe.

"Hey Gris," she started. "I'm not one to spread gossip, but what's going on with Warrick and Cath?" 

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Well, I've heard some stuff about them and people wondering what exactly happened down in New Orleans," Sara explained. "You know that people down there are a bit strange. They were just fine when they left, and they come back totally changed."

"Changed how?" Grissom asked, now curious about Sara's observations.

"Well, for one, they've been sneaking off a lot just in this shift alone," Sara said. "And earlier tonight, I saw them talking, and they were standing close to each other in a non friendly, more than friends way."

"Don't believe everything you see," Grissom said.

"I know, but we've known those two for years," Sara said. "This sudden change, I just don't get it."

***

Catherine was breathing hard.

"People are talking," she panted to Warrick.

"I know," he whispered, equally breathless. 

He kissed her deeply again before pulling away. He took in the sight of her against the locker before coming closer to her to button up her shirt. He kissed her again as he did so. 

"You're beautiful," he whispered.

He took out her necklace from his pocket and reached behind her neck to put it back on her. He kissed her on her neck just below her jaw before he pulled away.

She smiled. "God, this thing we've started now," she whispered. "It's so intense. I've never experienced anything this deep before. It's so bad, I don't even want to sleep with you."

"That's pretty bad," Warrick chuckled. 

"I'm serious," she insisted. "Look, I can't explain what happened in New Orleans, but you're okay with it, right?"

"Of course I am," Warrick said, putting his hands on her hips. "I want us to take this slow because I respect you, I respect your body, mind, and soul."

They kissed tenderly before pulling away and heading separate directions.


	3. Chapter Three

Budding 

Chapter Three

__

The heat in New Orleans was unbearable. It wasn't like the dry heat they had in Las Vegas…it was a humid, heavy, meat tenderizing heat for mosquitoes heat. In the evenings, it only got hotter, and it didn't help that Catherine and Warrick had been running around investigating the back waters and swamps all day. They were looking forward to air conditioning at the hotel.

"Sorry, the central air went out," the owner said.

Catherine had a fan put in her room. It was a good thing she brought her cotton underwear and silk nightshirt.

Warrick happened to walk by, and the slats on her door were opened. He could see her laying in the bed enjoying the monopoly she had of fresh cool air. He could see her hair blowing as the fan went back and forth. Her long, smooth legs were bare up to her mid thigh, and the rest of her body was covered in a red silk shirt. Her legs shifted and now she had her right knee up and her left down.

Warrick slowly brought himself to walk away. 

***

Catherine tapped her swivel against the edges of her coffee cup.

"Warrick, I need you to be honest with me," she said as she sat up straighter in her chair.

"Okay," he said with a smile.

"That night, in New Orleans," she started with a grin. "When the air went out at the hotel, were you watching me through the slats of my door?"

Warrick chuckled and looked away.

"Honesty is the best policy," Catherine teased.

"Okay, yes, I was," he admitted. "And I liked what I saw."

"I kind of sensed you there," she said. "I don't think you've ever seen my legs before that."

"Nope, I hadn't," he chuckled. "You have beautiful legs."

"Thank you," she said.

They sat in silence for a bit before striking up another conversation.

"So, do you think that we should take the money?" Catherine asked.

Warrick shook his head. "I don't know," he said. "Cath, we can't continue what those people did way back when…its not only our asses, but our careers on the line…you know that it's illegal, what we're doing right?"

"Yeah, but what if it was your daughter?" Catherine asked with fire in her eyes. "Or someone you loved deeply? Wouldn't you want justice?"

"Yeah, but Catherine, the law is the law," Warrick said firmly.

"Well, the law we live under sucks," Catherine said with venom. "It takes breaking the law to enforce it."

"Catherine," Warrick said. "Okay, even if we do go through with this, who's to say that we're not going to get caught? What if this is a setup?"

"Well, that's a chance we'll have to take," Catherine said. "I'm going to do this with or without you."

"No, Cath," he said. "I won't let you do this alone. I love you."

Catherine looked at him with wide eyes. Warrick couldn't believe he blurted it out.

"You do?" She asked.

"Yes," he said, taking her hands in his. "Yes, I love you."

Catherine chuckled.

"I love you too," she said.

***

Sara was left with the daunting task of finding the original scene of the head on collision. She didn't want to think about that at the moment, she had to get some rest. She was at home, for once, and really starting to enjoy it.

She began to think about Grissom. They were supposed to be working the case together, but he was hardly around to investigate it, so it may as well have been her case. Grissom was indeed an enigma to her. There were things that she knew about him, and things that she didn't know about him that she wished to know about him. She wanted him more than he would ever know.

She rolled her eyes and thought about something else. Catherine and Warrick.

There was definitely something going on between those two; they had been acting differently. According to lab gossip, what they had going on was hot and heavy. Sara could plainly see it-in their eyes, there was something that betrayed something much more than friendship. For now, the only reliable source was a lab tech by the name of Vicki who had a cousin who just so happened to be an employee at the hotel Catherine and Warrick were staying in. 

Apparently (and according to Vicki via her cousin) Warrick and Catherine had gotten themselves into something and they didn't know what exactly. According to Vicki's cousin, the last two nights they spent in New Orleans was spent with each other in Catherine's room; she even claimed that she saw a little bit of action through the thinly opened slats in the door.

But then again, how reliable were Vicki and her cousin?

Sara admitted to herself that she was jealous of them. She wished that she was in a relationship as deep as Catherine and Warrick's was on all levels: friendship, love, and support.

She and Grissom never shared that kind of bond. Their feelings for each other were known, and it made communication that much harder between them. Sara seriously began to wonder if a life of love was in her future. Her only obstacle was that she wouldn't just settle on anybody; she wanted to be with Grissom, and he wouldn't have her.


	4. Chapter Four

Budding

Chapter Four

Catherine was busy making Lindsay an afternoon snack when the phone rang.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Hey," Warrick greeted her.

"Hey," she said with a widening smile. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing, actually," he said. "You?" 

"I'm making Lindsay a snack," she said. 

"What are you wearing?" He asked in a lusty tone.

"Can't you keep your hormones in check?" She whispered, not wanting Lindsay to hear their conversation. 

"Not that much longer," he said. 

Catherine bit her lower lip. "We're still taking this slowly right?"

"Yeah," he said. "But I can't deny that I want you right now."

"Imagine how bad it's been for me," she groaned as she put the plate in front of Lindsay. "I feel like I'm a virgin all over again."

Warrick chuckled. "Hmm…sounds-"

"Don't even go there Warrick Brown," Catherine warned. "Tell me you love me and hang up before this conversation goes further."

"I love you," he said.

"I love you too," Catherine chuckled. "Now find something productive to do."

"Now you just opened up a can of worms," Warrick said.

"GOODBYE, Warrick," Catherine said before hanging up.

Catherine began to ask herself the infernal question of the ages: why are men so horny all the time? Not that Catherine wasn't for Warrick, it was just that he was blatantly obvious about it, leaving much to her imagination of how good it was going to be the longer they waited. 

Aside from their Bonnie and Clyde alter egos, they were an okay couple. Catherine wanted to cherish the relationship and see what Warrick was all about instead of jumping his bones and sleeping with him. She never liked doing that, but that's what she thought men wanted was a sexual relationship. 

The night they spent together, that's what she tried on him; they were half naked in her bed, kissing madly, wild with heat, until Warrick stopped her. He told her that they should slow down because he wanted their relationship to be something special. She found out that was what he wanted from her. Her commitment to a special relationship. 

His confession made her cry, and she suddenly felt dirty and embarrassed. Covering her breasts with one arm and wiping her tears with her other hand, she was bawling, confessing everything she truly wanted to him, and like the good man that he was, he listened patiently.

Catherine just couldn't quite explain what happened to them in New Orleans; it seemed impossible. She wondered where they would go after the whole ordeal down in New Orleans blew over. 

She admitted, what they were doing was unethical, there for illegal and they risked going to jail for it; the flipside was that if they didn't do, justice would not be served, and the same thing would happen in another murder trial and another and another. The south wasn't exactly known for its spectacular legal system, and this current conspiracy was no surprise.

They weren't headed into a life of crime, but they felt obligated to break the law just this once to break the cycle of injustice.

The only thing that Catherine was fearful of was of the gossip floating around her and Warrick. Even Nick was spreading gossip, and it was annoying. She just happened to hear that one of the tech's cousins worked at the hotel they were staying at.

That meant the next time they went back to New Orleans, they would have to use a motel.

***

Grissom sat in his office looking over some paperwork. He heard a light knock on the door.

"Come in," he said.

He looked up and it was Sara. She had her arms crossed over her chest, her hair was framing her face in soft waves, and she had a look of frustration, anger, and misunderstanding in her brown eyes.

"Yes?" He asked softly.

"I was just wondering when you were going to help me solve our case," she said, her voice full of venom.

Her naturally pouting lips frowned even more as he didn't answer her right away. He didn't know what to tell her. He had think of some excuse so that she wouldn't blow up at him. When she got emotional, everyone could see it, even though she didn't outright show it.

Sara rolled her eyes and huffed. "You don't even have to say anything."

"Wait Sara," Grissom said, taking off his glasses.

"That's all I've been doing is waiting," she said. "You know, for an incredibly smart man, you can be so stupid sometimes."

With that, she turned and left the office, leaving Grissom to his thoughts. 

He distanced himself from Sara because he knew that he loved the thirty something woman. She was beautiful, and he never got the image of when he first saw her out of his mind. Like the cliché went, she was a pretty young thing, bouncy, and enthusiastic. Her stoic nature came over time; as for the shield around her heart, that took time as well, and he was beginning to think that he was running out of time to reverse that.

Every time he thought about admitting his feelings for Sara, he thought about their careers first. She was still young, and she loved her job. If they ever got into a relationship, that would be a problem. Interoffice romance wasn't exactly encouraged by the state, but it wasn't against any policies, it was just discouraged. Grissom always had that concern, and he was concerned about Catherine and Warrick. What ever was going on between them, they were in deep, and the rumors became more outrageous every shift. If they were seeing each other outside of work, that was one thing, but a rumor that they had sex while on an assignment was floating around now, and Grissom didn't know what to do about that. He knew that Ecklie would jump all over it like a trampoline. 

"Grissom," Ecklie said, knocking at the door.

"Speak of the devil," Grissom mumbled to himself. "Come in."

Ecklie entered his office, looking around at the oddities.

"Hmm, I have pictures of my wife and kids in mine," he said with that smirk that Grissom never liked.

"EX-wife and kids," Grissom pointed out.

Ecklie glared at him. "So Grissom," he started. "I trust that you've heard the…_talk_ around this place about two of your most infamous CSIs."

"And that's exactly what it is," Grissom said defensively. "Talk."

"Well, I have it on good authority that-"

"Conrad, when I want your good authority, I'll ask for it," Grissom said with a glare. 

"You can't keep this under wraps for long," Ecklie said. "Catherine and Warrick are up to their asses in something and you know it."

"What they do outside of work is their business," Grissom argued.

"Well, from what I hear, they were screwing each other down in New Orleans, while on assignment," Ecklie said.

The man was out to get them.

"Why don't you spend more time looking out for your guys?" Grissom suggested. "I trust my CSIs."

"That's your problem," Ecklie said on his way out. "You put too much trust in them when they do something wrong and then they take your trust and run away with it."

Grissom threw his pen down and rubbed his temples. 

***

Nick, Catherine, and Sara were in the break room having a cup of tepid coffee. The tension in the room for Sara and Nick was very thick because they were curious about Catherine. She was calm as could be, even as the rumors about her became more serious.

"Catherine," Nick started. 

"Yeah?" She inquired.

"Is there any truth to the rumors flying around here?" Nick asked.

"What rumors, Nicky?" She asked as she sipped at her coffee.

"You know what rumors," he said.

"No," she said, looking up at the ceiling in thought. "I don't."

"You know," he insisted. "The ones about…you know, and Warrick?"

"Could you be more specific Nicky?" Catherine asked innocently. "There are a lot of rumors, you know."

"So you DO know about them then?" Nick asked, trying to corner her.

"About who?" She asked.

"Quit playing with my mind Cath!" Nick said, now irritated. "You know what I'm talking about."

"No I don't Nicky," she said as she got up to leave.

Nick was left in a frustrated ruin.

"That was fruitful," Sara drawled sarcastically.


	5. Chapter Five

Budding

Chapter Five

Grissom looked in the schedule book. He was thinking about making Sara take a week off from work; she had been working way too much, and she had once again taken up most of her overtime. She couldn't stand to be away from the lab for more than a minute, and he knew that she would resent him, but he had to make sure that she got some rest.

He scanned through and looked at vacation time for the rest of his team. Nick only requested Easter and the next Christmas off, Sara had requested Christmas, Catherine requested the next two weeks, and Christmas, and Warrick requested the next two weeks, and Christmas. Grissom noticed that it was the same two weeks that Catherine had requested. 

He shook his head at those thoughts. He was impugning the integrity of his best CSIs. What with the rumors, he couldn't help but think what he was thinking. 

***

Neither Warrick or Catherine were aware that Grissom was calling them because they were about thirty thousand feet in the air on their way to New Orleans.

They shared a Delta Mega SnackPak; there was nothing mega about it. The box had a cheesy design on it: the Greek sign for delta was a shimmering silver, and the box itself was a dark amethyst with lightning strikes going all around it, bearing its name. It was bigger than the contents inside. It only had a strawberry granola bar, a single turkey sandwich with no cheese (that bugged Catherine), and a pack of peanuts. They alternated the sandwich, split the granola bar, and split the six peanuts. 

If the flight was uncomfortable, they didn't seem to notice. They barely spoke, which was okay for them; they didn't always have to talk. They had their fingers intertwined and Catherine laid her head on his shoulder. They were preparing their hearts and minds for what they were about to do. 

The plane landed in New Orleans, and they got off.

"I'll go get our bags," Warrick said as he put his hands on her hips. "Why don't you go get something to eat?"

"No, let's wait until we get to the hotel," Catherine said. 

"Okay," he said before kissing her.

Once again, it was raining, and Catherine knew that it would only be more humid. She and Warrick had been a little more wise about their clothing choices, which were casual since what they were doing was not work related.

They took a taxi to their hotel.

"Uptown Suites," Catherine said. "Looks nice enough. Good job babe."

When Catherine saw the room, she was excited. As soon as he closed the door, she pounced him and kissed him fervently.

"You are a genius," she said with a smile. "I love this place. Now I can stop worrying about getting fat off of fast food because we have a kitchenette."

"I don't think you ever have to worry about getting fat," Warrick chuckled, setting her down.

She stood up on tip toe and kissed him again before sitting down on the bed.

Warrick put their luggage in the closet and then he sat down next to her.

"One bed…" Catherine started.

"Yeah," Warrick said. "Are you okay with that? Or do you want me to sleep on the couch?"

"We can sleep in the same bed," she compromised. "As long as you don't try anything. Cuddling is okay, but nothing below the waist."

"Absolutely no hands touching below the waist ma'am," Warrick said.

Catherine smiled and kissed him sensuously. "Well, there is one exception," she said as she unbuttoned her shirt. "When we're making out, below the waist, but nothing between, if you catch my drift."

Warrick grinned and nodded as they kissed again.

***

Grissom thought better of making Sara take the week off; she ticked off at him for not helping her with their case, and she avoided speaking to him. Every time he looked at her, and she caught his gaze, she glared at him; her glare was unique in that it actually inflicted fear upon him. When Sara was furious, her brown eyes turned black with whatever vengeful wrath she was concocting in her head to inflict upon her glare's victim. 

Grissom skillfully avoided her on that shift, and when he saw her coming, he knew to duck into a lab or another structure to hide him. He could smell her coming from a mile away. 

On this particular shift, he hid out in his office. Sara had her own case to deal with that led her all the way out to Summerlin. That would take her a while, so he was safe…for the time being.

Grissom felt ashamed that he couldn't face his own feelings. He was a grown man scared of a slender, gap-toothed brunette. He loved Sara Sidle with all that he was. The hardest part was overcoming the fear of what others would think and about losing both of their jobs and ruining their careers. He had worked his whole life to get to where he was, and along the way, he made the mistake of falling in love. He could never find a woman quite like Sara Sidle. She was quite literally one in a million. He couldn't see himself falling in love with anybody else.

He'd had so many fantasies about being with her; both lustful and loving. He knew her entire body from just watching her.

He couldn't blame Warrick and Catherine for whatever made them realize what they felt for each other. He was rather happy for them; he just had to play the part of supervisor with them so that it wouldn't seem like he was condoning interoffice romance. He'd always felt that it was inevitable. He saw the attraction from the first day that they met. 

Although Catherine was still married at the time, she had something in her eyes when she first met Warrick. Back then, he would have called it lust, but now, he called it love. They were soul mates and he was thankful to whatever brought them together. He still couldn't quite understand what was going on though; New Orleans was a hot spot for them now, and he couldn't put his finger on what they were doing there again at all.


	6. Chapter Six

Budding

Chapter Six

That potent smell, that Catherine and Warrick knew so well, even after two months, leaked into their opened window. The magnolias were budding, and the trees on which they grew were everywhere in New Orleans. 

Catherine stirred and slowly opened her eyes. When she adjusted to the sunlight, she opened her eyes wider. She cuddled closer to Warrick as she felt his hold around her waist tighten a bit. Her nightshirt had ridden up a bit from sleep, and his hand was laying on the skin of her abdomen, just below her bare breasts.

She felt him stirring more and she turned to face him.

"Good morning," she whispered.

"Good morning," he said, rolling over to look at the clock. "Seven thirty," he grumbled.

"We don't have to be anywhere until late tonight," Catherine whispered as she snuggled even closer to him, running her leg over his.

"Don't do that," he said, still trying to wake up. 

She smiled and continued to rub her leg up and down. She was even closer to him, and she was kissing his neck and chest.

"And you call this cuddling?" He asked, now very awake.

"Mmhm," she muttered as she kissed him. "I love you."

"I love you too," he said before gently pushing her onto her back and getting on top of her.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a deep kiss. He pushed her shirt up more and caressed her body. He began to kiss her neck and she arched into him, moaning in pleasure. 

"I want to make love to you so bad," Catherine groaned. 

Warrick stopped kissing her and looked into her eyes.

"Right now?" He asked.

Catherine closed her eyes and sighed. "I want to, but I think we should wait a little longer," she said. 

"I'm following your lead," Warrick said as he pushed a strand of hair from her face. "Whenever you're ready, I'll be ready."

They kissed again.

***

Catherine checked herself in the mirror once again. She added a little more cover up to the love bite on her neck. Warrick was an excellent kisser, and even though he left a few nasty love bites on various parts of her body, she couldn't deny that it felt good.

"Ready?" He asked as he finished buttoning up his shirt.

"Yeah," she said, giving herself another once over.

"You look fine girl," he said. "You don't have to keep on making sure."

"Really?" She asked. "I don't look too plain do I?"

"No," he said, gently drawing her near him. "You look beautiful."

"You're such a charmer," she said as she leaned up and kissed him. "Okay, let's go."

The restaurant they went to was quiet and romantic. But they weren't there to have a nice dinner with each other. They were there to do some business and get a rundown of the next two weeks. They walked to their table hand in hand, and they got stares from some of the other patrons of the restaurant. 

Warrick pulled out the chair for Catherine and she smiled up at him. Warrick was ever the gentleman.

He sat next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. They said hi to the couple next to them.

The couple was staring at them in a not so friendly or approving way.

"Waiter," the woman said. "May we please have another table?" 

"Isn't this the table that you reserved?" The waiter asked.

"Yes," the woman said. "But it's uncomfortable here all of a sudden."

"Okay," the waiter said.

Catherine and Warrick looked at each other.

"I guess we must be a problem," she said. "It's a shame how people hold on to their prejudices."

They were very much aware of why they were getting stares; they wouldn't let it bother them because it didn't matter what race or creed they were. As long as they were together, that was all that mattered.

They waited and talked about various things for twenty minutes more until they spotted their correspondent, the mysterious man that they had been speaking to for weeks. 

"We'll talk about that later," Warrick whispered in her ear, making her smile and blush.

The skinny but toned man donned a very expensive Armani suit complete with cuff links and the shoes to boot, and suddenly, Catherine and Warrick felt self conscious in their casual chic. 

"Warrick and Catherine?" He asked as he sat down.

"Yeah," Warrick said.

"Nice to meet you," he said in a professional tone laced with a deep southern accent. "I'm Orson Pascal."

"Hi," Catherine and Warrick said.

"Well, let's get down to business, shall we?" Orson started with a smile. He opened his briefcase and took out a couple of file folders. One for each of them. 

Catherine and Warrick opened up their files.

"These are your new identities to handle this," he explained. "Tomorrow morning I'll take you to this guy who'll take your pictures. He'll make you look like totally different people. You not only have a new name, but you have a new address, new city, and new clothes."

"We have to go through all this?" Catherine asked. 

"Unless you want people to recognize you," Orson said. "Listen, I'm trying to help you. You two are sitting on a gold mine of evidence in this case, and both the defense and the prosecution want it. They just upped the price. All you have to do is say yes, hand over what's needed to both sides, and you'll fly back to Vegas wealthier people."

Catherine and Warrick looked at each other with uncertainty.

"Look, you guys said you wanted to do this," Orson said. "I'm with you one hundred percent. I want that bastard put away as bad as you do. This is the only way to do it."

They looked at Orson, then back at each other and the linked their hands and squeezed them.


	7. Chapter Seven

Budding

Chapter Seven

Sara walked about her fourth crime scene within a month. She tried her best to avoid Grissom and the buzz surrounding Warrick and Catherine's simultaneous request for two weeks off. Everywhere Sara went, there was always some talk about the couple, or someone spouting a theory. They had become almost a legend at the lab, and the gossip seemed to be wearing down on Grissom because now Carvallo had heard about the rumors and he was coming in to talk to Grissom about it on the same night that Warrick and Catherine were due back to work.

In lament terms, the situation was bad, and the outlook was looking grim for Catherine and Warrick.

Sara sighed as she wiped her forehead. Her case had led her out to the middle of the desert, and she was sweating like crazy. It was a little known fact about Sara that she didn't like to sweat. Even as a teen when she ran track, she hated to sweat. She figured that was the girly part of her.

"Okay guys!" She called to the suffering coroners. "Pack her up!"

The body was that of twenty year old Michelle Francis. She was brutally stabbed to death and left out in the desert for dead. Sara was frustrated. The killer was pretty smart: there was no weapon, no trace of the killer on the young girl's body, no tread marks, no tire marks. Absolutely nothing to work with.

Sara turned the air conditioning in her Denali down to the lowest that it would go as she drove back to the lab. She craved a steaming hot shower to cleanse her body of sticky sweat and vermin that had attached itself to her.

She had not seen Grissom during a shift for three nights in a row. She knew that he was hiding from her and that she was still mad about him not assisting her with their case. Part of her knew that it wasn't about the case. She was mad because she knew that he didn't help her on purpose. 

__

He's going to have to admit it sometime, she thought to herself._ But I'm not going to wait forever._

Sara indulged, and she got her hot shower. She put on fresh clothes, and she left her hair down to dry.

She headed to the break room. She knew she couldn't go the other way. Grissom was in the break room, reading a magazine. This encounter with him was unavoidable. 

She walked tentatively into the break room.

"Hey," she said rather flatly.

He looked up from his reading.

"Hey," he said, taking in her appearance.

"Can we talk sometime," she asked a bit nervously. "Like after work or something? I need to tell you some things."

"Sure," he said. "How about breakfast after shift?"

"Okay," she said quietly before turning around and leaving.

***

After a long shift, Sara met Grissom at and IHOP down the street from the lab.

When she spotted him, she waved him over.

"Hi," he said.

"Hey," she said quietly.

They order what they wanted and then once their waitress was gone, they looked around awkwardly.

"Grissom," she started, finally breaking the agonizing silence. "We need to talk about us…preferably about our working relationship."

Grissom nodded and prepared to listen.

"Frankly Grissom," Sara started. "I'm not happy anymore. The only thing that's keeping me here in Las Vegas are Nicky, Catherine, Warrick, and Greg. They're my friends and family. But if it wasn't for them, I would have left a long time ago. What is it about me Grissom?"

"What do you mean?" Grissom asked. 

"I mean, what is it about me that keeps you away?" She asked, her eyes pleading for an answer, and on the brink of tears.

Grissom sighed. "Sara, it's not you," he said. "It's me. Just know that."

Sara nodded.

"How do you feel about me?" She asked.

Grissom looked down at his hands folded on the table. He had not addressed his feelings for her in a long while; at least not with Sara. How did he feel? He knew that he loved her, but he didn't know how to love her. If he could, he would have gone back to ten years ago and taken the opportunity to be with her, but he couldn't. He had to deal with the present.

"Honestly," he started. "I feel many things about you."

"Honestly Grissom," Sara said looking him dead in the eyes. "I feel that I love you."

He froze. He looked into her brown eyes, which really said nothing for they were rather blank. Her gaze made him shudder. 

"Sara," he said. "We can't…I mean," he paused to sigh. 

Sara felt tears running down her cheeks, but she didn't move to wipe them. This would be the only time she was not afraid to show her feelings.

He saw her tears and his heart ached. He wanted desperately to tell her that he loved her, but part of him didn't want to not for fear of getting talked about or risking their careers, but because she was young and she had her whole life to find love and happiness.

"Sara," he started again. "I've known you for many years. You're beautiful, smart, and you have so much potential. You have your whole life ahead of you. I know that you're unhappy, but I can't make you happy Sara. I'm letting you go because I want you to be happy."

Sara's tears were coming in torrents and she looked at him uncertainly and unbelieving of his words. Then, all of a sudden she uttered a sound between a laugh and a cry. She put on a smile and wiped her ever flowing tears.

"Thank you," she said, keeping her smile. "Thank you."

Grissom knew she broke and he knew that he was the cause, but he had to make himself let her go.

She got up and left.

***

As soon as Sara entered her apartment, she let out a heart wrenching scream that she wished Grissom could hear.

She covered her face and cried hysterically into her hands. She had finally told him the thing that she thought would make everything okay and he let her go. He flat out rejected her. Yes, rejected was a much better word.

She went to her bedroom and collapsed onto the bed and cried. She grabbed a teddy bear that her father had given her for Valentine's Day. She cherished it and she cried into its head many a night when she felt at the end of her rapidly fraying rope. She was teetering on the edge, she knew, and she thought about what Brass said about her small little habit. The next time she came home, she thought better of it, and resorted to crying her eyes out instead. 

She desperately needed someone to talk to. Her heart was beating slowly and achingly. She knew that she needed help.


	8. Chapter Eight

Budding

Chapter Eight

Warrick wrapped his arms around Catherine's waist as they watched Keith R. Sutton being escorted from the court house to the police car from a distance. There were cameras and media men swarmed around the front of the courthouse.

He kissed her neck.

"Ready?" He asked.

She watched a little longer and then she nodded.

The ride back to their suite was long and quiet. They just held each other's hands, still unable to believe what they had done over the last two weeks. It was incredible to them and surprisingly enough, they didn't feel guilty about what they did.

When they entered the suite, Warrick pulled her gently to him and kissed her.

"I can't believe how far we've come over the last two months together," Catherine whispered.

"I know," he said. "Are you scared?"

"A little," she admitted. 

"Me too," he said. "But this is for real. I really do love you, you know that right?"

"Yes," she said with a smile. "I know that now more than ever."

They kissed each other again more passionately.

"Make love to me," she whispered.

Warrick grinned against her lips and laid her gently down on the bed. 

That night, the only sounds that were heard were that of rustling sheets and the soft blow of the wind through the window.

***

Grissom sat in his bed staring at his phone. He was trying to decide whether or not to call Sara. He knew that he hurt her beyond repair, but he figured he should at least say that he was sorry about what he said to her just a few days ago.

He made a motion to pick up the phone, but decided against it and pulled his hand away. There was nothing that he could say to put Sara's broken heart back together. 

In truth, they were both disillusioned about love; they both thought love to be a powerful thing…something easy to admit. They were both wrong. Love for them was complicated and powerful at the same time, swirling together into one big mass that floated helplessly around them, making them ache all the more because the mass made itself known.

The thing that was perhaps the most damaging was the fact that he made her cry. He'd never made her cry before, at least he didn't think he ever made her cry before, and he'd only seen her cry twice. Seeing her cry made him realize that she wasn't resilient to feelings. She was just as vulnerable to emotion as he was. After seeing her cry like that, he no longer viewed Sara as a strong, vivacious woman; he viewed her as a vulnerable, fragile young girl who suffered from the inability to deal with a problem of infatuation that she thought she brought on herself.

Grissom wondered how he was able to hide the fact that he loved her for so many years. He knew that he hadn't given her so much as the time of day.

Sara Sidle was the love of his life, the woman he had been waiting for, and he was letting her slip through his fingers like sand through a sieve.

***

"Have you ever experienced any social anxiety before?" Dr. Tyler questioned Sara.

"Um, once," she admitted. "When I was a teenager, I had a panic attack."

Dr. Tyler furrowed his eyebrows and crossed his arms over his broad chest.

"Okay," he started. "Sara, give me a reason why I should prescribe anti-depressants for you."

"Why? You're the doctor," she said.

"Well, I just need an explanation from you," he said.

Sara rolled her eyes.

"You should prescribe anti-depressants for me because I'm losing it," she said bluntly. "Lately, I just haven't been able to deal with my life. I've gotten myself in and out of bad habits to help me cope. Just recently I gave up my nasty little habit of having a beer or two after lukewarm Chinese takeout leftovers," she explained. "I am almost at the end of my very short, very thin rope. I'm at wit's end right now. I can't deal with work, I'm jealous of other people's ability to feel, I'm in love with a man that wouldn't know love it bit him in the armpit, and I forgot my birthday," she paused to wipe her tears. "I forgot my own birthday. I'm thirty four, unmarried, childless, and virtually unlovable in every sense of the word. I can't sleep because I have nightmares about the people I couldn't help. I'm so unhappy," she cried. "I was just fine before I came here to Vegas and now that I've been living here for the past four years, my life is unbearable."

Dr. Tyler looked at her. "Your prescription should be ready in twenty minutes." 

Zoloft and sleeping pills.

Sara opened the Zoloft and popped a pill for the day. 


	9. Chapter Nine

Budding

Chapter Nine

Carvallo was Grissom's intellectual and moral nemesis. They were professional on the outside, but given the chance, they would have liked to punch each other's lights out.

After the lab explosion, which revealed that it was Catherine's fault, but not intentional, Carvallo gave her five days suspension with pay. Catherine was furious, and Grissom had to get her out of the room before she said something she might regret. To Grissom, Carvallo was a coward. He claimed that the lab was his own, but he didn't have the _cojones _to work at his lab himself.

Grissom's blood boiled at staring at Carvallo again, and he tried his hardest to keep his control.

"Supervisor Grissom," Carvallo started. "I have heard that there are some rumors floating around your CSIs. Is there any truth to them?"

"First of all," Grissom started. "I don't listen to gossip, second of all if Ecklie was the one that told you, then you can forget about even talking about it. Tell him he needs to be supervising his team, not mine."

Carvallo sat up even straighter. "What's the problem with CSI Sidle?"

"Nothing, why?" Grissom asked.

"Well, I looked up her records and it showed that she's just been diagnosed as manic depressive," Carvallo explained.

"What?" Grissom asked incredulously. "No, that can't be Sara. She's never had a history of depression, nor has she told me she's been suffering from it."

"She doesn't have to tell you, that's confidential information and-"

"Then why did you look her up?" Grissom asked, his anger becoming more apparent.

"To make a point to you," Carvallo said. "On top of CSI Sidle's medical condition, the rumors about CSI Willows and Brown are floating all the way to me," he said. "I've even heard that they weren't doing what they were supposed to when you sent them down to New Orleans for that case."

"They finished the investigation, and they did a very good job down there," Grissom defended. "Look, I don't keep tabs on all my CSIs' personal lives," he said firmly. "What they do outside of work is none of my business. As long as they're doing what they're supposed to be doing on company time, I have no reason to meddle in on their lives."

"That's why Sidle suffers from depression," Carvallo said. "If you would pay more attention to your CSIs, you would know that, and fix the problem."

"So now my CSIs are a problem?" Grissom asked, just barely losing control.

"Obviously if what they're doing is distracting everyone else," Carvallo argued. "Especially the rumors about Willows and Brown. What exactly is going on?"

"Carvallo," Grissom said, trying to keep his anger at bay. "I don't know."

"Your CSIs need to pull it together," Carvallo said. "From the sound of things around here, Willows and Brown are heading into some dangerous territory."

"Dammit Carvallo!" Grissom shouted as he stood up. "These are people we're talking about! They're not just CSIs!" He shouted. "They have names, and feelings just like anyone else! My people are not expendable! We are people!"

Carvallo flinched at Grissom's tone. "That will be all," he said dismissively.

Grissom put his hands firmly on his desk to cool down. Carvallo opened the door to Catherine.

"Good evening Ms. Willows," Carvallo said before rudely shoving past her.

Catherine entered his office and sat down.

"Gil," she started tentatively. "What happened?"

"Carvallo just chewed my ass off for not treating you and the rest of the team like you're emotionless robots," Grissom quipped as he sat down. "He expects me to know every aspect of your personal lives."

Catherine sighed and tugged at the necklace hidden by her shirt. 

"Well, I think you scared him off pretty good," Catherine sighed. 

By then, Grissom had calmed down a bit and got his good mood back.

"So, I trust your mini sabbatical was refreshing," he said with a bit of a smirk.

"Yeah, it was," she chuckled. "I had to get used to actually sleeping at night."

Grissom grinned and nodded.

"How did you hold up without me?" She quipped.

"Just fine, actually," he said. "I guess we can be apart for more than a day or two."

Catherine laughed at this.

"Did I miss any good gossip?" She asked.

Grissom glared at her.

***

Nick caught Catherine once again playing and twisting her hidden necklace around her neck. It was starting to bug him.

"Catherine," he started. "You've been playing with that necklace the whole ride."

"Oh, sorry," she said, furrowing her eyebrows. "I had no idea that you kept looking my way every time I did it."

Nick glared at her.

"Pull it out," he said. "What's on it?"

"It's just an empty locket Lindsay gave me for Christmas," she said. "Nicky when you do that kind of nosy stuff, it seems like there's another woman on this shift."

"Ha," he said dryly. "I didn't know you had a gig as a comedienne."

She smiled and continued to play with her necklace.

"Oh, I forgot to ask," Nick started. "How was your two week vacation?"

"Good," she said.

"You know, Warrick had the same two weeks off as you did," Nick said, looking at her suspiciously.

"Really?" She said. "That's cool."

"The SAME two weeks off," Nick emphasized.

"Yeah, and?" She asked.

"Why are you trying to make me the one that's crazy?" Nick asked, now thoroughly peeved. "There's something going on."

Catherine shook her head. "Nicky, there is such a thing as coincidence."

"No," he said firmly. "No, I'm not going to fall into that trap," he said. "I'm not. You're trying to play with my mind again, but it's not working this time."

"See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, Nick," Catherine quipped.

"Stop!" He said. "I know you and Warrick are up to something!"

"Oh because gossip is _so _reliable and because _you yourself_ see us with your own eyes," Catherine teased. "Oh, yeah, big conspiracy."

"See, there's a reason why my dad told me to avoid women like you," Nick said with a smile.

"Good," she quipped. "That's one down, all the rest of the men at CSI to go."

Nick glared at her.

When they got to the scene, Catherine twisted her necklace once again before grabbing her kit and headed to the scene.

"What have we got?" Catherine asked as she bent over the victim.

Nick tried unsuccessfully to see what was on her necklace, which meant that he couldn't sneak a glance with out looking down her shirt. 

Catherine truly honestly didn't know that Nick was being _that _nosy, and she continued to bend over the body. Nick kept looking intently, determined to find out what was on her necklace. Whatever the charm was, it was being hidden by her bosom and cradled by her bra. Nick felt guilty beyond anything, but he had to confirm that there was something going on.

"It looks like there was a little hand to hand com-" she paused when she looked at him. She noticed that his eyes weren't on her own. She looked down her shirt, gasped and straightened her posture. 

Nick blinked.

"Oh, sorry!" He said.

Catherine regarded him strangely before this time kneeling down in front of the body instead of bending over.

***

Sara was in an unusually good mood even for herself. She was smiling more times in this shift alone than Warrick could count on all ten fingers in the years that he knew her. Every little thing made her giggle or smile, and it concerned him, because she was never known to be chipper on the job. It wasn't her style.

"What has got you into such a good mood?" Warrick asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know," she admitted. "I guess I'm just a little hyper. Probably from the coffee."

Warrick didn't buy that. The woman was thirty something odd years old, and she lived off of coffee. She never got hyper off of a cup of company coffee. It was a commodity for her.

This shift, she had been acting strange. She would go from stoic to humored in a flash, and Warrick could never tell what kind of mood she was in, so he decided that he would only talk to her about the cases.

Grissom came into the layout room in search of Sara.

"Sara, can I talk to you in my off ice?" He asked.

"Yeah," she said and bounced out the room.

They entered his office and Sara sat down in the chair across from his desk.

"Sara," he started. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, why?" She asked in that tone of voice that he knew so well. The voice that pretended to be happy, but really underneath, she was struggling.

"Well, you've been acting strange all night long," Grissom pointed out. "You've been in and out of moods. That's not your normal Sara."

Her face quickly changed. She had a deep frown and her eyes…he didn't even want to start on her eyes.

"What are you saying Grissom?" She asked in a harsh voice that seemed to come out of nowhere.

"Sara, I've been told that you're manic depressive," Grissom started. "Is this true?"

"No," she said.

"Sara, it's okay," he said. "You don't have to pretend in front of me."

"Yes I do," she said meekly, tears falling. "I have to pretend that I don't love you so that I can move on with my life. So that every time I see you, it becomes easier to push those feelings away," she paused to look at him. "So when you're close to me or touching me, I pretend that I don't love you so that I won't want you anymore."

Grissom looked deep into her brown eyes. They were full of emotions he couldn't read.

She got up and left.


	10. Chapter Ten

Budding

Chapter Ten

Catherine smiled with content as she kissed Warrick again. 

"I love you," she said between kisses.

"I love you," he said. He kissed her deeply again before trying to pull away. "Babe, I have to go."

Catherine groaned.

"No," she said, kissing him. "Don't go."

"Sweetie, I have to," Warrick said. "I'm on call."

Catherine pouted as she got off the bed and put on a robe. He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. 

"But, after tonight, we'll both be off," he whispered. "Then I can have my way with my beautiful wife."

Catherine blushed as he kissed her neck.

"I can't believe we got married," she said. "I feel so bad that we couldn't go all out and invite our friends and what little family we both have left."

"If we did let people know, it would cause problems," Warrick said. "Carvallo is one of them."

Catherine nodded.

"Who do you think will find out the fastest if we keep hiding our relationship?" Catherine asked.

"I'd say Nick," Warrick chuckled. "But I think you need to find a better place to put you ring. I can't believe he was looking down your shirt. He's lucky I'm not the jealous aggressive type or I would've kicked his ass."

"Oh, he was only trying to be nosy," Catherine laughed.

"Nobody should be looking down my woman's shirt except for me," he laughed as he lifted her robe. "And, I like what I see."

She smacked him playfully. He turned her around and untied her robe and pushed it off of her.

"I thought you had to go," she said as she tilted her head back to give him better access to her neck.

"I think I can spare another hour or so," he whispered.

Catherine smiled seductively at her husband and pulled him down on the bed on top of her.


	11. Chapter Eleven

Budding

Chapter Eleven

Sara took two Valium. 

If she was going to anything else, sleep made her change her mind about it. The Valium had been working for her; it kept her from dreaming about anything at all. That was exactly what she wanted.

She put on a nightshirt and climbed into her bed and let the medicine take its affect on her body. Depression was something that she had never dealt with before, and she felt like she was an outcast. Usually, she could deal, but not this time. Her heart was broken, and she had given up on ever loving anyone else. 

***

Catherine pounced Warrick and kissed him madly.

"Excited, aren't we?" He asked with a chuckle.

"Of course I am!" She said. "We have seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars each to do whatever we want with."

They smiled at each other.

"What are we going to do with that kind of money?" Warrick asked.

"I don't know," she said. "Do you want to put it together and save it for something later?"

"We could do that," Warrick said. "I was actually thinking that maybe we could buy a house with it."

Catherine kissed him softly. "That would be great," she whispered. "We'll have a place to call home. Lindsay's been wondering when you're going to move in."

"How is she taking all this?" He asked.

"Well, she's happy," Catherine said. "She loves you, and I think that she's ready to start over."

"I love you both," Warrick said. 

Warrick kissed her again, then set her down.

"Do you think you'll ever want to do what we did again?" Warrick asked.

"I don't know," Catherine said as she entered the kitchen. "Maybe."

"Do you think that what we did was wrong?" Warrick asked.

"In the eyes of the law, yes," Catherine said, taking out a pint of ice cream. "But justice is blind, and we led her in the right direction."

Warrick nodded. His love for Catherine was further amplified because of her words. 

"What are you thinking about?" She asked as she ate a spoonful of ice cream.

"You," he said. "And how every time I look at you, it seems like you get more beautiful."

Catherine smiled. "You know, the more you talk like that, the sexier you get."

Warrick chuckled and gently pulled her to him.

"We have to go back to New Orleans soon," he whispered.

"I know," Catherine said. "I'm afraid of what we'll find out."

He kissed her lips, cold and sticky from the ice cream.

"I think that-" 

"You think way too much," Catherine whispered in a sultry voice. She ran her hands down his very well muscled chest and kissed him sensually.

The ice cream long forgotten, she led him to the bedroom.

***

Catherine kissed her wedding ring, which was not cheap, by the way, and then she strung it on her gold chain. She swore that she would always have it with her until they decided that they would tell everyone that they had eloped. She would be able to wear it on her finger all the time at work.

She put the chain around her neck and tucked it under her shirt.

When she was prepared to go meet up with the rest of her comrades, she closed her locker, and pushed a few stray strands of hair away from her face.

She walked to the break room, and saw Nick and Warrick already there, but no Sara.

"Where's Sara?" She asked.

"Grissom said that she called in," Nick said. 

"Whoa," Catherine said. "Call the newspapers. Sara's actually taking the night off?"

"Grissom said that she didn't sound good, though," Warrick said, his eyes telling her something much different.

"Oh," she said, and she decided not to tease about Sara.

"Want some coffee?" Warrick asked.

"Please," she said as she sat down. "With the usual fake stuff."

Nick looked at his watch. "Where is Grissom?"

"He said he'll be here in about thirty minutes," Warrick explained. "He said he was going to go check up on Sara. Now I'm worried about the poor girl."

"She hasn't been herself over the last few weeks," Catherine pointed out. 

Nick nodded his agreement.

They sat in silence for a few seconds before Nick brought up something else.

"Got money for some lunch?" He directed at Warrick.

"Why?" Warrick asked. 

"It's so your turn to cough up the dough for lunch man," Nick said. "I paid up last time."

Warrick sighed and glared at his friend and took out his wallet.

"How much was it for us last time?" He asked.

"About fifty bucks," Nick said.

Warrick fanned through a large amount of cash in his wallet. "I should have enough."

"Enough?" Nick said incredulously. "Did we get a raise and nobody told me?"

"I had my bank add up the total interest from my account that I've been acquiring since I was seven," Warrick said. "You do the math."

Catherine smiled and played with her chain.

"Alright, I've had enough," Nick said in an annoyed tone. "I know you two are up to something, I can smell it. What are you hiding?"

"We're not hiding anything Nicky," Catherine lied. "What is your deal?"

"I'll tell you what my deal is," he said. "My deal is that you two have been sneaking around acting weird and taking time off at the same time. I'm not crazy. I know there's something going on. You two are my best friends, and it really hurts me when you lie to my face about the obvious."

Nick looked between them before walking out.

Catherine sank into her chair.

"When are we going to tell them?" She asked.

"I don't know," Warrick said. "Whenever you're ready."

Catherine put her head down on the table and groaned.


	12. Chapter Twelve

Budding

Chapter Twelve

Grissom's pulse went up as he noticed that Sara's front door wasn't closed all they way. He entered her apartment with some trepidation; he wasn't always one to carry his gun and at the moment, he wished he had. He prayed to God that Sara was okay.

Her apartment was a little cluttered, and in need of some serious dusting. The curtains were drawn tight, and the place was only illuminated by the hall lights within that led to the various rooms.

The décor of her place was mismatched. Splashes of color here and there, clashing with the darker colors. It wasn't her at all. Sara wasn't known for whims of fancy, and he was convinced that she never got the time to fix up the place after the resident before her.

He looked around carefully, and his eyes befell bottles of pills.

He picked them up.

Valium and Zoloft.

"Shit," he muttered to himself.

Whoever the doctor was who prescribed that combination should have been put in jail. 

He put the pills down and turned around.

When he turned, he felt a hard fist going across his face.

He growled in sudden pain and he stumbled a bit, knocking over a chair in the dining area. Then he heard a whimper of effort from his assailant as a hard object crashed upon his back.

He heard frantic footsteps and the lights flickered on.

"Grissom!" Sara said in surprise, breathing hard from the exertion. 

"Sara," he gasped. "I didn't mean to intrude."

"Yeah, well, you scared the shit out of me," she said as she threw down the cutting board. "You deserved to get your ass kicked. Breaking and entering is against the law you know."

Grissom glared at her.

"I didn't break in," he defended. "You didn't close your door all the way. Now you tell me which is scarier: a friend coming in to check on you, or a complete stranger, which I could have been, coming in after you?"

Sara sighed in frustration.

"What do you want Grissom?" She asked.

Grissom took in her state of dress before speaking. Sara Sidle had successfully beaten his ass in pajamas with turtles on them. There was something oddly embarrassing about the whole scene.

"I just came by to check on you," he said, rubbing his jaw. "You have a pretty strong right hook Ms. Sidle."

"Compliments of my dad," Sara said shortly. "Now, what do you want?"

"I wanted to see if you were feeling okay," Grissom said. "You didn't sound too good on the phone."

"Well, I'm fine now, so you can go," she said harshly. "It's not like you've ever cared about me before."

The words stung him.

"That's not true Sara," Grissom said. "I have always cared about you."

"Just leave," she said. "I can't talk about this with you now."

"About what?" He asked.

"About how you've been denying your feelings," Sara said. "I opened my heart to you, and you took advantage of that. You could have at least confirmed that you were feeling the same way I was."

"Was?" He asked.

"Am," she deadpanned, changing the tense. 

"Sara, it's very complicated, what we feel," he started. "A you have to think-"

"I'm tired of waiting and thinking and guessing," Sara said, now to the point of tears. "I need to know how you feel. I have been in love with you since the first day I met you, and I never changed my mind about you because I thought I knew you felt the same way."

"Sara, we just need time to-"

"No," she interrupted. "I've given you time. I've given you more than enough time. You need to make a decision Gil. Do you love me or not? If you don't love me, then let me go, but if you do, then we can pick up the pieces of our pathetic lives and work things out. Do you love me or not?"

Grissom looked into her brown eyes, turned dark with anger and resentment. 

"What's it going to be Grissom?" 


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Budding

Chapter Thirteen

The feel of her lips and her soft skin drove him crazy; but he couldn't, wouldn't take advantage of her like this.

"Catherine," Warrick said. "We have to stop."

"What? Why?" She panted.

"I don't know," he said. "I've always cared about you, and I think that we need to slow down."

"Okay," she said.

"You had the dream too, didn't you?" Warrick asked.

"Yeah," she said. "What's going on?"

"I don't know," Warrick said. 

The heat surrounded them, and instead of fueling their fires, it only served to make them miserable as Catherine cried.

One more day, and they would finally leave New Orleans.

***

Warrick caressed Catherine's cheek as he kissed her lips lovingly.

"Mm," she moaned. "I love you."

"I love you," he said. "You're beautiful."

Catherine lightly smiled and closed her eyes, reveling in the sheer pleasure of Warrick's kisses. She kissed him passionately one final time before they started to fix their clothes. Catherine sighed happily as she buttoned her shirt up.

Catherine looked around the spacious room again and smiled.

"I really like this house," she said as she smoothed down her skirt. 

They made love on the cold hard floor of the luxurious master bedroom of their new home.

"You really truly like it?" He asked, fixing his shirt back the way it needed to be.

"Yes," she said as she got up on tip toe to kiss him again. "You did very good babe."

They checked each other's appearance before linking hands and walking out together.

They went to lunch before heading home.

Catherine stared steadily at the entrees on trays that waiters were carrying by as she stuffed food in her mouth. Warrick noticed her strange behavior and was trying to decide whether to address the issue or not.

"Sweetie," he started. "Why are you staring at other people's food?"

"I keep thinking that I should have ordered something else," she said, cutting another large piece of meat. "This steak is the pits."

Warrick furrowed his eyebrows at the moment of irony; she expressed dislike for the meat but she was eating it still, with more intrepid feelings than the trepidation of a person who clearly was not enjoying the meal at all. He just shook his head.

When they finished lunch, they picked up Lindsay.

"My girl," Catherine said happily. "Guess what?"

"What mommy?" Lindsay asked in anticipation.

"We got the house!" Catherine exclaimed.

Lindsay jumped up and down with joy. 

"Is my room big?" She asked.

"Yeah, just a little too big," Catherine teased. "I think Warrick and I will have to take yours."

"No mommy," she giggled.

"Come on, want some ice cream to celebrate?" Catherine asked.

"Yeah!" She exclaimed.

Warrick wrapped his arm around his wife's waist and kissed her cheek.

***

Sara sat in her living room thinking about the answer Grissom gave her to her question. She was wondering if it was real, of a nightmare.

Grissom didn't love her. Knowing that now, after ten years made her cry, but she was also strangely happy; her heart felt like it was slowly mending itself back together. She was no longer in limbo. She had a direction in life. 

Sara shook her head of those thoughts. It was the medicine talking. Her heart felt heavy and limp. It was just a mass hanging in her chest. Her hopes and dreams of a life of love were shattered at his words, and at that point she figured everything else that they had been through; that she had been through, were in vain. Everything that they shared didn't matter now because he finally admitted that he didn't love her.

Sara cried and she moaned in the pain of knowing it all now. There was now a reason for his treatment of her. 

"I love you still, Grissom," she cried quietly to herself. "I love you."


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Budding

Chapter Fourteen

Telling Sara that he didn't love her felt like nails coming out of his mouth. It was a complete lie, and he felt horrible for telling her that lie. He loved Sara wholeheartedly, and he kicked himself for not saying it when he had the chance.

He wondered what Sara's fragile mind was thinking; he prayed that she wouldn't do anything drastic to herself. He thought that by telling her that he didn't love her that he was making her feel better. He felt that she deserved much better and that she was going to fall in love with someone just right for her. He had to make himself let her go, but he couldn't.

Now, the torment in his heart hurt even more, and he was more aware of it than ever before. This was love; the painful, shaking, strong emotion that drove people to do crazy things. His love was undeniable and unbearable at the same time.

***

Catherine was thoroughly disappointed that they couldn't move into their new house because they had to make one last trip to New Orleans.

The gossip got more and more out of hand, and Nick was pissed off because they still wouldn't reveal what was going on.

They decided together that after this final trip, they would tell about their relationship and keep the part about breaking the law and taking money out.

Catherine cried at the fact that Nick would be disappointed in them because of what they did. She also knew that Ecklie would be on their asses like a bloodhound and that made her bawl. What hurt her the most was seeing Nick upset at them for keeping the biggest secret known to the lab for nearly five months. It wasn't fair to any of their team mates, and Catherine and Warrick felt guilty beyond anything.

Warrick bought Catherine a pint of ice cream to calm her crying down, but she continued to cry hysterically between spoonfuls. 

"I feel so bad," she cried as she spooned some more of the Ben & Jerry's Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream. "And you know, we didn't even have a real wedding. I wanted to have a real wedding and invite all our friends and go on a honeymoon," she sniffled. "But I couldn't wait because I love you so much. I didn't want to wait another minute."

Warrick rubbed her back and listened to her patiently.

"Getting married," she started. "Well, eloping, was just about the only decision ever in my life that I don't regret. After I divorced Eddie, I thought that it was impossible to ever be happy, but you changed all that for me."

She wiped her tears and continued to eat her ice cream. She smiled at him.

"It's good," she said. "I didn't stop crying long enough to actually notice a flavor."

Warrick smiled and hugged her. 

"It's okay," he said. "You have nothing to worry about."

***

After enduring another week of the cold shoulder from Nick, Sara's withdrawal from the planet, Grissom's moodiness, the gossip, and Catherine's crying spells, the newlywed Browns were finally on their way to New Orleans for the last time for a while.

The flight went smoothly, except for the times when Catherine got up and nearly pummeled the stewardesses down running to the restroom to throw up. One time, Warrick had his tray down trying to eat his lunch, and trying to get Catherine to drink warm clear soda and to eat some crackers, but it didn't do any good, and she became frantic trying to get out of their seat. They fumbled with the tray; he was trying to push it up, and she was pushing it down and trying to climb over him at the same time. It wasn't working, and they were disturbing the passengers in front of them and behind them.

"Catherine, hold on sweetie," he said. She pulled her hands away and as he pushed the tray up she climbed over him quickly and ran to the restroom.

Another time, she gagged and covered her mouth and she got up quickly, jabbing him in the stomach and she pushed a stewardess over into another person's lap, and tried to open the door to the restroom but it was occupied so she banged on the door until the person came out and she entered and locked it.

"Sir, here are some bags for your wife," a stewardess said. 

"Thanks," he said.

Catherine came back looking pale and pasty.

She was fine for a couple of hours after the flight, but on the way to the hotel from dinner, which she barely ate, they had to make two pit stops.

Once again, it was raining, and he had forgotten an umbrella. So, he stood out there with her in the rain, rubbing her back as she coughed and gagged over the side of the bridge. She coughed hard enough to heave again once more. She stayed bent over the bridge for a minute before straightening up warily. Warrick supported her as he led her back to the cab.

She was shivering, and he wrapped his dry warm jacket around her as she rested her head on his shoulder, exhausted. He smoothed down her wet hair and kissed her forehead.

When they finally got to the hotel, the cab driver told them that the ride was free and he offered to take their bags up to their room.

Warrick carried a heavily sleeping Catherine up the stairs. She had a very light frame and it was easy to pick her up.

He laid her down on the bed and brought their bags in.

"Thanks," Warrick said gratefully to the cab driver. He gave the man fifty dollars and said goodnight.

"Thanks, I hope she gets better," the driver said before going down the hall.

Warrick moved quietly around the room so as not to disturb his violently ill wife.

He put their bags in the coat closet and then he called room service and ordered her some tea.

He heard her stir in bed and he came to her aid.

"Warrick…" she whimpered.

"I'm right here babe," he said. "Room service is going to bring some tea."

"I'm cold," she said.

"Relax," Warrick said softly. "I'll go get you some dry clothes."

Catherine rested back into the pillows again as Warrick got out a night gown for her.

"Here sweetie," he said.

She sat up slowly and took off all of her wet clothes and handed them to him. She put on the nightgown and then she laid down.

By then, the tea had come, and Warrick got that from room service.

Catherine sipped at the tea as Warrick got out of his wet clothes.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

"A little better," she said. "You're next."

He chuckled. "I wouldn't want to catch it from anyone else."

When he turned around, Catherine was gone.

"Cath?" 

He heard her retch and he went into the bathroom. She was on her knees, gripping the sides of the toilet as she emptied her stomach. She heaved one more time before flushing the toilet and wiping her mouth. She rubbed her nauseous belly as she stood up.

"Are you okay?" Warrick asked as he wiped her face, neck, and chest of sweat.

She nodded and went to the sink to wash her hands and splash water on her face. She accepted the towel that Warrick gave her and she dried her face. 

"Thank you," she said quietly.

"Do you want to go see a doctor?" Warrick asked. "You might have gotten the flu or something."

"No, I'm fine," she insisted. "Like you said, it's probably the stomach flu. It's a twenty four hour virus. Watch, in the morning, I'll be good as new."

She brushed her teeth and drank some water before heading to bed.

***

The sun peeked through the drapes of the window and woke Warrick up first. He stirred and turned to Catherine, who was just waking up herself. She opened her eyes slowly and she grinned.

"How's your stomach?" He asked while rubbing it.

"It's fine," she said. "I told you I would be fine."

"You always have to be right," he teased.

"You always have to worry," she countered.

She smiled and pulled him on top of her and kissed him.

"I see you're feeling much better," he said between a kiss.

"Mmhm," she said.

They were in the middle of making love when all of a sudden, Catherine's stomach went sour and she quickly got off of Warrick and rushed to the bathroom.

"That's it, we're going to see a doctor," Warrick said.

Catherine emerged a few minutes later, looking almost green in the face.

"Okay, so it's a forty eight hour bug," she said as she climbed back into bed. 

***

Nick found Sara in the locker room staring straight ahead at nothing.

"Hey Sara," he said.

She came out of her trance and faced him.

"Hey Nick," she said. "What's up?"

"You, for the last few weeks," Nick said, sitting next to her. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah," she lied, then gave up on lying. "No, no I'm not okay."

Nick just sat there and waited for her to continue.

"I'm thinking about transferring," Sara said. "I want to go back home."

"Why?" Nick asked. 

"I'm not happy here," she admitted. "I never was happy here. The only reason I moved out here was because-"

She stopped and looked away.

"It's complicated Nick," Sara said. "I don't really want to talk about it."

"That's okay," he said. "Just think about where your heart is before you make any final decisions okay?"

Sara nodded. "Thanks Nicky."


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Budding 

Chapter Fifteen

Sara heard a light knock on her front door and she looked over at her clock. It was a little after eight in the morning, and she had just gotten off from work.

She groaned because the knock broke her train of thought. She opened the door, expecting to go off on whoever disturbed her thoughts, but she didn't; the person at her door was Grissom.

"What are you doing here?" She asked with some bitterness.

Grissom said nothing as he boldly stepped in and pulled her into a harsh, but passionate kiss.

***

Warrick rubbed his temples as he and the owner of the small, but quaint house waited for Catherine to exit the bathroom.

"She's got a little stomach virus," he said.

"That's awful on your last visit," the fairly young woman said. 

Warrick shifted his gaze to the three month old baby girl. She was sleeping peacefully in her mother's arms.

"Do you want to hold her?" The woman asked.

"Oh, no, I-I don't know how to hold a baby," Warrick said nervously.

"Oh, come on, it'll be good practice," she said with a smile as she handed over the child. "There you go, cradle her head just like that. You're a natural. I'll go see about your wife."

Warrick looked down at the sleeping girl. He never pictured himself holding a child. 

Catherine walked into the living room and she smiled.

"Are you uh, hinting at something babe?" She chuckled.

Warrick smiled at her and handed her the baby. "You're the expert."

"Hi there precious," Catherine cooed to the baby. "You are such a cutie pie."

"I want to thank you for putting the man that killed my parents away for the rest of his miserable life," the woman said. "I finally have some closure."

"It was our pleasure to help," Warrick said.

Catherine handed the little girl back to her mother.

"For a long time, I was scared for this little one," the woman said.

Denise Edgewood was a young, ambitious, and responsible woman. She never knew who her parents were beyond the pictures left behind of them from years ago. Her adoptive parents didn't tell her the real story of what happened until she was a teen, and since that time, she'd been looking for their killer who was never brought to justice until just recently.

"I have several pictures of them," she said. "Would you like to see them?" 

"Sure," Catherine said.

"You know, the odd thing is that you two kind of look like them," Denise mentioned. "That's why I wanted to thank you personally."

She handed them some pictures of Patty and Thomas Edgewood.

"Wow," Catherine said, shocked at how much she and Warrick really did look like the pair from long ago.

"That was taken in 1960," Denise explained. "They grew up together. They were about ten or eleven by then. Here's another of them on their wedding day. They got married in 1968."

Catherine and Warrick looked at each other then back at the pictures.

"They were active in the Civil Rights movement, they were against Vietnam, and they had been arrested over fifty times each," Denise said in awe. "They went through so much together. A friend of theirs told me that my mother kept marching and protesting while she was supposed to be on bed rest."

"Your parents were good people," Catherine said, tears brimming her eyes. 

"They were," Denise said sadly. "My mother put up a good fight in the end. She saved my life. They loved each other deeply as you two do. I know they're happy in Heaven."

Later that day, Catherine and Warrick went to the Edgewood's gravesite. 

Catherine placed a single rose between each of their graves and she stepped back and linked her hand with Warrick's.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

Budding

Chapter Sixteen

Nick entered the DNA lab, Greg's domain.

"Hey, got my results?" Nick asked.

"No, but I do have more gossip from the rumor mill," he said. "I hear that Catherine and Warrick went back to the Big Easy."

"I'm really sick of those two sneaking around," Nick said. "It's pretty obvious that there's something going on between them. It may not necessarily be that they slept together or anything, but they're into something."

"Yeah, into each other's-"

"Don't even go there," Nick warned. "Dude, you're sick."

***

Sara bit on her finger nail as she sat in the break room.

She knew that she had pushed Grissom out of her life forever. She held the pen in her other hand and she stared down at the paper in front of her. All she needed to do was put her signature and get Grissom's signature and that would be it. 

She signed her name and put the pen down with a shaky hand.


	17. Chapter Seventeen

Budding 

Chapter Seventeen

Catherine emerged from the bathroom.

"Warrick," she called softly.

He came around the corner and met her.

"Yeah?" He asked.

She smiled at him, indicating the answer to his question.

"I'm pregnant," she said happily.

He wrapped his arms around her and he kissed her. 

"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you too," she said.

***

Sara knocked lightly on Grissom's door frame.

"Come in," he said.

Sara walked in with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Hey," he said solemnly.

"Hey," she said. "I uh, need you to sign a transfer application."

Grissom looked truly shocked at her words.

"What?" He asked.

"I want a transfer, Grissom," Sara said. "I want to go back to San Francisco."

"Why? You've been doing so well here," he said. 

"Grissom, you know that's not the reason I want to leave," Sara said. "Have you conveniently forgotten what you did the other day?"

Grissom sighed. "No, I haven't."

"I can't deal with you any more Grissom," Sara said bitterly. "I've never been depressed in my life about anything and then you showed up and changed my life, changed the way I thought about love and friendship. I have put my life on hold for you Grissom, and I'm the one that's slowly losing my mind while you just sit here and go on with your miserable excuse for a life," she said, full of a quiet rage. "I have no life. I've never been happy here Grissom. I only came to Vegas for you and you kept pushing me away and playing games. I'm done Grissom. I can't do this anymore. I want to move on with my life."

"Sara, I'm not going to let you go, no matter how hard you fight," he said softly. 

"Why?" She asked with a mirthless chuckle. "Because the lab needs me?"

"No, because I need you," he said quickly. 

Grissom got up and came over to her. Their faces were inches away. He put his hand on her cheek and a tear fell from her face.

"Why are you doing this to me Grissom?" She asked in a whisper that was full of pain.

Grissom got down on his knees.

"Sara, please forgive me," he begged. "I'm asking you to forgive me for not treating you the way you deserve to be treated. Forgive me for not telling you the truth."

Sara was crying harder. "What truth?"

"I love you, Sara Sidle," he admitted. "I love you. I've always loved you, but I was too much of a coward to admit that. I've wasted so much time thinking and wondering when the answer has been right in front of me the whole time. You are the one Sara. You're the woman that I've always loved, desired and wanted."

Sara wiped her tears before kneeling in front of him.

"And I'm sorry too," she said. "I'm sorry for all the mean things I said about you not having feelings and being insensitive," she admitted. "I'm sorry I wasn't very truthful with you either. I pushed and you shoved. I love you so much it hurts. Just thinking about you makes my heart ache because I know that I love you."

Grissom rubbed her cheek, wiping away any tears that had fallen during her confession. He brought her face closer to his and they kissed ever so lightly on the lips. It was a small touch, in stark contrast to the harsh kiss he'd given her days before.

"Would you like to have dinner?" Grissom asked.

"Yes," she said, coming closer to him. "I would like that very much."

***

Nick, Greg, and Sara entered the break room.

"Well look who's back," Greg said with a broad smile when he saw Catherine and Warrick already in the break room. 

Catherine, who was not in a joking mood, rolled her eyes and Warrick greeted the much younger man.

"Hey Greg," he said. 

Nick didn't say anything to either of them as he sat down at the table.

"It's good to have you both back," Sara said cordially. "The past week has been the pits."

"Swamped?" Warrick asked.

"No, barely any cases," Sara explained. "They've been tossing cases to Ecklie's crew because we were short handed."

"I hope we get something good tonight," Warrick said. "Two weeks with no cases to solve starts to really get you."

Warrick glanced over at Catherine; she was having a hard time controlling her morning and evening sickness. She had been trying not to throw up every time she got nauseous, and sometimes, it would help, but most of the mornings she would rush to the bathroom and throw up. Warrick would never know what kind of nausea she was experiencing, but it was pretty bad. He was surprised that she made it this far without vomiting.

She cradled her forehead in one hand and the other hand was rubbing her stomach. She was taking deep breaths trying to keep her atrocious nausea at bay.

"Catherine, what's the matter?" Nick asked. "You don't look too good."

She gagged and covered her mouth. She got up and rushed to the restroom.

"What's the matter with her?" Nick asked.

"She got a little bit of a stomach virus," Warrick lied, not wanting to reveal everything until she gave the word. "We ate at a seafood restaurant and she had some bad fish. She's been sick ever since and she refuses to go see a doctor." The lies were pouring out.

Nick nodded at this information.

Grissom came in, bearing assignments.

"Good evening," he said. "Nick, you've got a dead body at a skate park, Sara, you and Catherine have a B & E on Golden Pine road, residential area. Where is Catherine?" 

"She's in the restroom," Warrick explained. "She's got a virus."

"Then why is she at work?" Grissom asked.

"I tried to convince her to stay home, but she wanted to come in," Warrick said, which happened to be true. He really did try and convince her to stay home and get some rest, but she refused in a not so nice way that made him not pursue the subject any further.

"Warrick, you and I have a robbery gone very wrong," Grissom finished. "Okay, let's hit the road."

Everyone got up to leave. Catherine emerged from the restroom and stopped in her tracks as everyone began to move around.

Warrick spotted her.

"Did you tell them?" She mouthed.

He shook his head no. "You're with Sara," he mouthed back.

"I love you," she mouthed.

"I love you," he mouthed before heading out of the break room.

"I'll call you," she mouthed before they finally broke their love sick gaze.

Catherine entered the break room and grabbed her coat before meeting Sara in the parking lot.

"What's our case?" Catherine asked as she popped a piece of candy into her mouth.

"A B & E," Sara explained.

"Mm," she said sucking the life out of the sour candy. "Sounds like fun."

***

Warrick was inspecting the back of the convenience store when his cell phone rang.

"Warrick," he answered. 

"It's me," Catherine said.

He looked around behind him before responding. 

"Hey sweetie," he said. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay for now," she sighed. "I'm tired more than anything."

"Do you want to just go ahead and tell them everything over breakfast or something?" He asked.

"Yeah," she sighed again. "We should. I can't hide this pregnancy for long. And stomach viruses don't last for nine months."

Warrick chuckled. "Well they bought it tonight," he said. 

"We have to be honest with them honey," she said. "They're our friends."

"I know babe," he said. "Listen, I have to go. I'll see you back at the lab. I love you."

"I love you too," she said before hanging up.

Warrick hung up just as Grissom entered the back.

"What have you got?" Grissom asked.

"Nada," Warrick said, putting the cell phone back in its holder.

***

After a rather long and tedious shift, the team went out for breakfast at Warrick's suggestion.

Catherine picked at her food as her nausea mercilessly took hold of her. She knew that it was about time they told about their relationship. If anything, she knew that Sara would eventually figure out that she was pregnant, so she decided to spare herself that kind of embarrassment and told Warrick that they would reveal their marriage.

"Um, guys," Catherine started. "Warrick and I have something to tell you."

Nick shifted in his chair, prepared to listen to what they had to say. For Nick, it was closure, and he would be able to stop guessing and worrying about his two best friends.

Catherine looked nervously over at Warrick and linked her hand in his before starting.

"The first thing is that," she sighed before continuing. "We eloped."

Catherine pulled out her chain to reveal a ring. She undid the necklace and put her ring on her finger, and Warrick took his out of his pocket and put it on.

Everyone was shocked.

"You two eloped?" Sara asked in awe. "When did that happen?"

"About five months ago," Warrick said.

Nick's jaw dropped. "You two have been married for five months?"

"Yes," Catherine said.

Grissom was thoroughly interested.

"Damn you two hid it good," Sara said. "I mean, I suspected that you two were together, not married."

"This is unbelievable," Nick said. "I suppose the next thing you're going to tell us is that you're having a baby."

Catherine and Warrick looked up from the table with guilty grins.

"Oh no," Nick said. "You're kidding me."

Warrick put his arm around his wife's shoulder and grinned proudly and Catherine patted her stomach.

"This cannot be happening," Nick said. "Why did you keep it a secret for so long?"

"We were afraid," Catherine said. "The rumors were getting worse and when Carvallo came into the picture, it scared the shit out of us."

"Hey, no cussing around baby," Sara teased.

"Shut up Sara," Catherine giggled. "Besides, right now he's just the size of a pea. He doesn't have any ears yet."

"He?" Nick asked.

"I think we're having a boy," Catherine said proudly. "But Warrick wants a girl."

"I'm happy for you two," Grissom said finally. "But you know, you'll have some big adjustments."

"Yeah, we kind of talked about that," Warrick said. "We already bought a house, we just have to move everything in. Lindsay's excited and she's taking everything well."

"As far as work goes for now," Grissom started. "Catherine you know that you won't be able to process scenes any more or go into the labs right?"

"Yeah," she sighed. "Pictures, no hands, paperwork and photo analysis."

"Correct," Grissom said. "Think you can handle that for the next nine months?"

"Yeah," Catherine said. "Look, Nicky, Gris, Sara," she started. "Warrick and I want to apologize for hiding all this from you. We would have told you sooner, but we still had things to figure out ourselves. We really did want to have a proper wedding, but with all the rumors flying around, we didn't want to upset anyone. We would have loved for all of you to be a part of our wedding. Can you ever forgive us?"

"I can't stay mad at you," Nick said with a smile. "I probably would have done the same thing if me and the woman I loved were under that kind of pressure."

"Thanks guys," Catherine said gratefully.


	18. Chapter Eighteen

Budding

Chapter Eighteen

Catherine seemed to be rushing to the restroom every time somebody looked up.

Her morning sickness was horrible and at work, she could hardly get anything done because she was throwing up. She couldn't even smell food or else that would send her running. Greg teased her about being pregnant and she went off on him and started crying. She cried forever and Warrick had a nice talk with Greg.

The morning before, they went in for a sonogram and it revealed that she was six weeks along. 

Warrick waited patiently for Catherine to exit the restroom. Nick came by and shook his head.

"First comes sickness, then comes cravings," Nick said.

"How do you know so much about pregnancy?" Warrick asked.

"I'm one of seven kids," Nick said. "My mom had morning sickness with all of us, then after a month or two, it was egg and peanut butter sandwiches."

"That's nasty," Warrick said. "No wonder you are the way you are."

"Hey," Nick said. "I came out just fine thank you."

Catherine came out of the restroom.

"Ready?" She asked.

"Yeah," Warrick said.

***

Warrick enlisted the help of Nick, Grissom, and Greg to move everything into their new house.

Catherine, Lindsay and Sara were dictating where to put things and how to put them.

Warrick looked at Catherine, who was glowing, and she smiled.

He put down the end of the couch that he was carrying and he kissed her.

Nick yelled at him, and he went back to work.

Later, when they had everything moved in, they all sat in the back yard thinking of names for the baby, colors for the house, and how to arrange things.

"I like Alexis," Catherine said. "Alexis for the girl, and Hayden for the boy."

"I don't know if I like Hayden," Warrick said. 

"How about Greg?" Greg asked.

"No," everyone else said in unison.

"How about Isaiah?" Catherine proposed.

"That works," Warrick said. 

"Isaiah Thomas Brown," Catherine said with a smile.

"That's perfect," Sara said with a smile. "But what if it is a girl?"

"Then, how about Alexis Rose?" Catherine said again, looking at Warrick. "You like that?"

"I love that name," he said.

They leaned in and kissed each other.

"Aw, would you two give it a rest?" Nick said. "You're killin' us."

They pulled away and looked at each other lovingly, and Sara made a gagging gesture as the couple kissed again.

***

After about three more weeks of Catherine's crying, morning/evening sickness, and irritability, she was happy as a lark, and eating everything in sight. She ate everything from bagels to asparagus, which really grossed Warrick out. She started eating her weight in Ben & Jerry's Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream and cottage cheese for breakfast every morning, and she drank water and Sprite Remix nonstop.

Warrick had to catalogue things that made her sick: she couldn't stand the smell of laundry detergent, so Warrick took care of all the laundry, and pickles, Doritoes, ham, bacon, pork chops, Italian dressing, and butter were banned from the house because they made her sick. Everything else she ate and enjoyed with much satisfaction.

She wasn't showing yet, but the weight she had gained didn't go unnoticed.

"Catherine's getting a little soggy in the midsection," Nick commented. "I didn't know Catherine had that big an appetite. Before you sewed the seed, Catherine would barely finish a hamburger."

Warrick shook his head. "She's been eating Lindsay and I out of house and home," he chuckled. "But I'm glad she's eating. She's having a healthy pregnancy so far."

When Warrick and Nick entered the break room, they saw Catherine reclining in one chair and she had her feet propped up on another, watching television chomping down on a pastrami sandwich, which happened to be Warrick's.

"Hey babe," he said as he kissed her on the cheek.

"Hi," she said. "Where have you been?"

"Checking up on some results," he said. "You know you're eating my lunch."

Catherine pouted. "I'm sorry but I was hungry," she said. "I mean, I'm only pregnant with your son."

Nick grinned at her comment. 

Warrick chuckled and he put his hand on her now soft belly from the weight. "Eat up."

She smiled.


	19. Chapter Nineteen

Budding

Chapter Nineteen

Sara had to admit to herself that she was jealous of Catherine and Warrick's relationship. She was also jealous of the fact that Catherine was expecting and the woman was almost forty. Grissom had not talked to her much since their last date, and it made her angry and green with envy.

Catherine was absolutely glowing. She was entering her fourth month of pregnancy, and she was starting to show. She had a distinct pooch and she was nicknamed "Pudgy" by Greg and Nick because of her tummy. Or, sometimes they would call her "Itchy" because she was constantly scratching her growing belly. Sara did not take part in this teasing; she avoided Catherine a lot, and Catherine looked hurt every time she offered to help with a case.

Seeing Catherine in her delicate condition made Sara rethink what she really wanted in her life. All she wanted was to be happy. She didn't want to be the same old Sara anymore; her life had become monotonous and routine. She wanted so much more, and she was afraid that Grissom could not give that to her. 

Yes, it was definitely time to go.

***

Catherine threw down the paint brush and stretched. 

Since she was only working three days a week now, she had plenty of time to work on the house. Warrick called every second it seemed like, just to make sure that she was okay. 

He had become a little overprotective ever since he started reading manuals about pregnancy and birth. He almost couldn't handle the details, and he "accident proofed" the entire house for Catherine. He constantly got on Lindsay for leaving things on the stairs and not wiping up something she spilled on the kitchen floor. He would always say, "Your mama's body isn't as strong as it used to be, so we have to help her out a little. Mind yourself."

He became concerned about what was in the paint products, and they spent an entire day looking for lead free and odor free paint. All Catherine could do was shake her head at her worrisome husband.

Every morning when he came home from work, he would pull her night shirt up and feel her belly then he would kiss it and then her forehead as she slept. Sleeping had become difficult. Lately, she had been suffering from insomnia, and she ended up walking around the house all night, fixing this or that, paying a bill or two, painting a wall or two, and eating a meal or two or three. Warrick had expressed his concern over that as well, and she just sighed and shook her head. 

Sometimes, she would wake him up in the middle of the night when he was off and send him to the grocery store to retrieve more asparagus and Ben & J's ice cream.

She stared at the red rust color on the wall of the study. She really liked that color, and it soothed her. She looked at her watch and saw that it was time to pick up Lindsay.

She prayed that there wasn't a parent/teacher meeting this afternoon because she looked a mess with her one size fits all shirt, clinging to the slight curve of her belly and too big overalls that made her look fatter than what she really was. Her hair was put up sloppily with a butterfly clip and it was frizzy. She had not dyed her hair since she found out that she was pregnant; she thought that it was bad for the baby, and Warrick asked her not to because he liked her red hair.

She drove down to Lindsay's school and parked in a parking space and waited for her. Catherine became hungry all of a sudden, and she had a taste for salad. A fresh garden salad with raisins, tomato, pecans, cucumber, cheese, some red grapes, croutons, chunks of chicken, and some corn, topped with peach juice. She made herself hungrier thinking about it.

She finally saw Lindsay running toward the car, and Catherine unlocked the door. 

"Hi mommy," Lindsay said happily. 

"Hey sweetie," Catherine said with a smile. "How was school?"

"It was good," Lindsay said. "I told all my friends about my little brother or sister."

"That's good baby," Catherine said. "Do you want to eat out tonight?"

"Yeah," Lindsay said. "Do you have another craving mama?"

"Yes," Catherine said apologetically.

Catherine and Warrick had discussed trying to actually cook meals instead of getting fast food. Warrick was an excellent cook, and Catherine…she was one step up from a frozen dinner, which wasn't half bad. They only went out when she had a craving like this afternoon.

They went to a buffet and Catherine indulged her craving.

***

Sara stared at the application for a moment. It was laying ever so neatly upon his desk, on top of a small stack of papers. This time, she didn't need a signature.

Their first date wasn't bad at all…in fact it was quite romantic. After the date however, she didn't know what happened. They just stopped talking and that was it. He didn't even bother to call her or offer her out on another date. Sara wasn't sure how much longer she could take his mistreatment of her. She was sure that there was life outside of her world that was Grissom. In her heart she felt love, in her mind she felt stupid. 

She turned and walked out of the office.

When she got to her apartment, she immediately took her medication. This time she took three Zoloft pills instead of the prescribed one. She wanted to feel better and fast. She didn't want to wait for it to take its effect. 

She was definitely going. There was no turning back this time because she had her bags packed and there were boxes stacked around her small apartment. In a few days, she would be back in San Francisco and she would be happy again. Grissom would be a part of her past and she figured she would eventually get over him. 

Over the last twenty minutes, she'd gone from one emotional extreme to another; one moment she was numb to the idea of leaving, the next she was bawling, now she found herself oddly grieving.

She sat upon her couch and let the tears fall silently down her face. She was fighting a losing battle. The pain was acute and apparent. She never knew that love could hurt so bad yet feel so good.

There was a knock at the door, and she got up the will to go answer it.

"Grissom?" She asked in a shaky, fragile voice.

He could see the tears and the hurt in her eyes; the utter pain that she was going through. He had never seen Sara so heart broken before and he knew that it was because of him. He noticed that she was obviously serious about leaving. He could see the boxes.

She wiped her tears and gathered her pride.

"Why are you here?" she asked.

"Because I don't want you to leave," he said.

Sara huffed and began to shut the door on him, but he used his shoe as a stopper.

"Just leave me alone Grissom!" She shouted tearfully. "I get it okay? You don't have to keep reminding me! You don't love me, we'll never work out, and you're sorry!"

She tried to close the door again, but he ended up pushing his way through by accident.

Sara faced him with tears in her eyes.

He took her by the arms and pulled her to him and he gave her a deep, sensual kiss.

Sara tried to push him away, but his hold on her was strong; both in the physical sense and spiritual sense.

She gave into him and she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him harder. They pulled away when they found that they could barely breathe.

"Why have you been running away from me?" She whispered tearfully.

"Because I'm afraid of you," he answered honestly. "The love that I feel for you…it's so strong and real. I've never felt this way about anyone before in my life. You have changed my life in so many ways. I can't even think straight now because I know that I'm working with you, in the same building with you. You're so beautiful and intelligent and I know that I can't make up for the last few years of your life, but I'm going to try and make you happy," he paused to wipe a tear from her face. "That's if you'll allow me."

Sara let a tear escape again as she lightly caressed the nape of his neck.

"Yes," she whispered bringing her body closer to his. "Make me happy."

With that, she kissed him again more lustfully and there was no more conversation for the rest of the night.


	20. Chapter Twenty

Budding 

Chapter Twenty

Warrick awoke to a strange smell. He looked over at the clock. It was three o'clock in the morning. He turned to check up on Catherine, but she wasn't in bed. He rolled his eyes and ran a hand over his face.

"Catherine…" he grumbled as he got out of bed.

He went down stairs and found her in the kitchen, her favorite hangout now that she was carrying, cooking something. Her hair was tousled and she only had on an oversized T-shirt and panties, which had grown bigger in size.

"Cathy, what are you doing?" Warrick asked.

"I'm cooking asparagus," she said turning to him. "Why?"

"Sweetheart do you know what time it is?" Warrick asked. "It's three in the morning."

"Yeah, and?" She asked.

"Are you sure you should be eating at this time of night…day…whichever," Warrick said.

"Honey let me explain something to you," she said, slightly waddling to him. "Right now, there is no sense of time or order to me," she said, putting her hands on the back of her wide hips. "Whatever I want, the baby wants and gets, if I can't sleep so that he can sleep, then that's the way it has to be. Stop worrying so much babe," she said. "Remember I've done this before."

Warrick nodded tentatively, scared of her too calm mood. Sometimes she would be sweet as sugar, and then before he knew it she would not be the best person to hang around.

"If you have any more questions, refer to pages forty five through forty seven in _Daddy Dearest_," she said. "It should do you good."

***

Sara woke up to a roll of thunder and the sound of pounding rain. She inhaled deeply and turned around to look a the clock. When she did so, her view was blocked by another sleeping figure in her bed.

She smiled and leaned over the figure and kissed him tenderly on the cheek, causing him to stir.

He turned and looked at her and any other look, but love, crossed his face, and she felt her smile slowly fading. He looked confused, surprised, and…regretful. She broke her gaze and laid back down in bed, staring at the ceiling.

"Sara," he started. 

"Yeah?"

"What happened last night?" He asked, even though he already knew what had happened; he initiated it. His voice sounded regretful, and he knew it.

She huffed out a frustrated breath. "You fucked me," she said bluntly as she turned away from him.

He had never expected hearing that word escape her mouth. He ruined everything. Mornings after between two people who love each other dearly should not be this tense. Part of him wanted to kiss her madly and make love to her again, but her knew that he'd be taking advantage of her somehow. He was impulsive last night, and it showed in his lovemaking. He knew that he was hurting her, but he was releasing passion that had been held in for way too long. Even through the pain, she enjoyed it, and she pulled him yet closer to her, to feel more of him.

Now, it was morn, and the afterglow was long gone. 

"You don't have to stay if you don't want to," she whispered.

Grissom wanted to stay, but his rational mind, that knew everything else except human emotion, made him think better of it. He felt that he had robbed her of her choice to leave. He was making her stay because of his own selfish need to possess her. For some reason, he had claimed her; she wasn't a prize or anything, it was just that from the moment he laid eyes on her, coming into that lecture hall, with longer, thicker, and curlier hair, still adolescent features gracing her twenty one year old face, and cute clothes for her lithe figure, he knew that one day, if not that night when she asked him to a small party, that she would be his.

Now, it only seemed selfish because he was making her stay and making her think that she had to. 

"Just go, Grissom," she said. She was glad that the door to her bedroom was behind her because she didn't want Grissom to see her tears.

She shifted in the bed and curled herself deeper into the covers. She felt pain not only in her heart but in a place that Grissom had touched her, been inside her, let go inside. It was a soreness that she would have enjoyed under different circumstances, but right now, the soreness was anything but bearable. It had been so long, that she was aching, and it wasn't a good aching.

She heard him pulling on his clothes, which had been scattered around the room in their desperate, almost pathetically desperate, need to feel the essence of each other. He had tapped into that little place in her soul that she closed off to the rest of the world and he made her a fool for over ten years. She had finally gotten her fill of him, and now, he was pushing her even further away. She was teetering dangerously on the edge of nothingness, the point she always knew she would reach, it only took time. She knew that once she reached it, there would be no going back.

She didn't even notice that Grissom left until minutes later when she came out of her thoughts.

She felt the tears welling up again, ready to chase the ones that had dried.

"Don't cry," she said to herself as she got up out of bed, gloriously naked, and ashamed now. She couldn't help it and she covered her mouth and whimpered. "Oh God."

She let out an increasingly growing noise that was a mix of pain, and painful love.

Grissom heard her cry, but he knew that if he turned around, he would make things worse. 

"I'm so sorry," he whispered as he walked down the stairs.

Sara wrapped the sheet around her body, which now felt vile and violated, and went into her kitchen. 

She had to take her anger out on something. She cried like she never cried before as she took down certain objects. Once she felt she had enough, she picked one up and hurled it against the front door. She threw one and then another, and another, and so forth until there was nothing left within her reach to throw. She sank to the floor, crying, and in an emotional ruin. She had given herself over to him and he walked out on her. Why was it so easy for him?

She got up and opened her bottle of pills. She began to count them, making sure she had plenty enough to last her awhile so that she could take three.

She heard knocking on the door.

"Ms. Sidle?" Her landlady called. "Are you alright?"

She kept banging and banging.

"Shut up," she hissed under her breath. She popped three pills and then she went back to her bedroom.


	21. Chapter Twenty One

Budding

Chapter Twenty One

Catherine flipped through all of the channels and found nothing of interest to watch. She began to wonder: six hundred channels, and there was nothing to watch. It was beyond Catherine, and she didn't feel like thinking about it too much.

She ate another spoonful of ice cream. The tub was sitting on her belly, and she had a small plate of asparagus on her bedside table. Warrick was sleeping away; he was exhausted from the double shift he pulled just before his week long vacation and from going to the grocery store, which had been crowded, to retrieve some items for Catherine.

Then, when he got home, they made love, and now, Catherine was thoroughly hungry, and Warrick was tired. She really did wear him out, and the thought made her grin.

She polished off the entire gallon of ice cream by herself, then she ate the asparagus. If she ever had any doubts before, she was sure now that she was having a boy. She had never eaten this much asparagus in her life, and she craved it everyday.

She continued flipping through channels and feasting upon the asparagus. Finally, she landed on Lifetime, and there was a pretty good movie starting. It was about love, romance, denial, and loss. 

__

Hmm, she thought to herself. _Sounds a lot like Grissom and Sara's relationship._

She became engrossed in the movie, and continued to eat. 

She stayed up until the crack of dawn and then she fell asleep as Warrick woke up.

He rubbed his eyes then looked over to his expectant wife. He knew that she had been up all night eating and watching TV. He smiled down at her as she snuggled even more into the covers as she placed her soft, beautiful hands atop her rounding belly. Four months of pregnancy did not put a dent in Catherine's libido. She was still a wildcat in bed.

He kissed her forehead and belly before getting up and getting dressed.

He was taking Lindsay to school, and he had to wake the nine year old up.

Catherine had painted most of the house, and it looked great; it was bright, warm, and inviting. Now he understood the reason why she wanted to paint by herself. The house was purely Catherine, and he loved it.

"Lindsay," he said softly into her doorway. "It's time to get ready for school sweetie."

She grumbled. "I don't have school today," she said. "They're fixing it."

Warrick thought back to when she told him that, and it happened to be last weekend. The school was in desperate need of some work, and it was about time that Lindsay got a little break from school. School had become a little tough for her lately, and she needed some down time.

"Oh, yeah," he chuckled. "Okay, then go on back to sleep."

She snuggled her teddy bear closer and went back to sleep.

Warrick went downstairs and began to make some breakfast. In a few minutes, Catherine would be down stairs, hungry and cranky because of her lack of sleep. She had only just fallen asleep a few hours before he woke up.

He heard her footsteps upstairs in their bedroom going to the bathroom. She frequented the bathroom either because the baby didn't agree with what she ate, or to urinate. He guessed the latter. 

She padded down stairs, looking and obviously feeling as he predicted, and it was a good thing that he had prepared some sausage first for her.

"Good morning," he said. 

"Morning," she grumbled as she sat down, her belly becoming more prominent. She grabbed a piece of sausage and ate it hungrily. 

He set some orange juice in front of her and she drank it down in ten seconds.

"It seems like all I've been doing is eating," she said as she bit into another piece of sausage. She began to cry. "I'm getting fat and ugly."

"No," Warrick said, kneeling in front of her. "No, you're not getting fat, per se," he paused to find the right words. "I mean, you're growing…bigger because the baby is growing. You're supposed to be fat. If you weren't I'd have serious problems with that."

"I'm not ugly to you now?" She asked, wiping her tears.

"No," he chuckled. "That's impossible."

He kissed her tenderly before finishing up with breakfast so that she could eat and get back to bed. He heard her begin to cry even harder.

"Babe, what's wrong?" Warrick asked as he came to her side again.

"I don't know," she cried. She covered her face and cried hysterically. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hugged him.

"What?" Warrick asked. "Baby, please tell me what's the matter, I can't stand to see you cry."

"I'm telling you, I don't know," she cried. "Just let me get it all out of me okay?" She asked tearfully.

Warrick just held her in his arms until her crying was reduced to sniffles and hiccups.

"Feel better?" He asked, rubbing her very wet cheek.

"Yeah," she said quietly as she wiped her cheeks and sniffled again. "Warrick I'm sorry," she said. "I know you're tired of me."

"I'm not tired of you," Warrick assured her. "You're having our son, and I know that you're going to get a little emotional."

"A little?" Catherine chuckled mirthlessly. "I haven't cried like that in years."

There was a harsh knock at the door and Warrick went to go answer it.

"Is this the Brown residence?" A man in a black suit asked.

"Yeah," Warrick said suspiciously.

"Warrick, who is it?" Catherine asked from the kitchen.

"Is that your wife?" The man asked.

"Who are you?" Warrick asked. "And how do you know us?"

"I was sent to give your wife this," he said, handing Warrick a package. "It's for your wife's eyes only."

"Wait a minute," Warrick said angrily. "Don't come up to my house like this and think that I'm giving this to my wife and I don't know who you are or what's in this package."

"It's from Sam Braun, that's all I'm telling you," the man said before walking off.

Warrick closed the door. He was hesitant to hand the mysterious package over to Catherine; God only knew what was in it, especially if it came from Sam Braun.

"Honey, who was it?" Catherine asked as she emerged from the kitchen.

"I don't know," he said. "It was some guy in a suit and he asked me to hand you this," he said holding up the package. "He said that it's from your dad."

Catherine paled.

"What's in it?" She asked, automatically putting her hand protectively on her belly.

"I don't know," he said. 

"Just open it," she said quietly, her fear permeating the air between them.

He looked at her tentatively before working on the package. 

It seemed like an eternity before Warrick opened the package, and inside there was gift set with things for the baby and a card. Catherine rolled her eyes and sighed in relief.

"I've gotta give Sam a little more credit," she exhaled as she leaned her head on Warrick's shoulder.

***

Sara stared at the picture of her and her friends while she sat waiting patiently at the airport. She would miss them dearly, and she hated to leave, but she wanted to be happy again. She was never happy in Las Vegas. 

She had lost the only man she ever loved, and her heart felt numb and cold. She would always love Grissom and her heart went out to no one else. She would probably marry someone sooner or later, but she would never actually fall in love with anyone again.

She tucked the picture away and gathered her carry on bag as she saw the plane taxi up to the terminal. She would be in the first section that boarded the plane.

She waited in line as people got on the plane. She sighed and shifted on her feet. She was impatient to get out of Las Vegas. She thought about it. She'd never seen anything the city had to offer except it's crime rate, which was phenomenal. 

She sighed and looked at her watch.

"It's no use being in a hurry at this airport," an older woman said, shaking her head.

"I can see that now," Sara chuckled. 

"Hi, I'm Marie," the woman said.

"Sara."

"Nice to meet you," Marie said. "May as well make a friend while waiting, right?"

"I guess so," Sara said.

"So, what are you going to be doing in San Francisco?" Marie asked.

"Try to rebuild my life," Sara confessed.

"Well, I suppose San Francisco's just as good a place as any to rebuild and recoup," Marie said. "What's the problem?"

"I'm just not happy anymore," Sara said with a melancholy sigh. "Frisco is my home, it's where I'm supposed to be."

Marie nodded.

Sara turned around and faced the front. The line had barely grown smaller. 

After another hour or so, Sara was finally about to board the plane, she heard someone calling her name.

"Sara!" 

She turned around, looking for the voice's owner.

"Sara! Don't get on that plane!"

"What psycho's calling you like that?" Marie asked.

Sara looked around and finally, she saw Grissom running through the thick crowd of people away from guards that were on his tail.

"That psycho," Sara said as she dropped her things. "Grissom!"

He finally made it to her.

"Sara, don't go," he begged. "I'm an idiot! I love you so much Sara and I'm not afraid anymore. I'm sorry I hurt you like I did. I didn't mean to. I've been such a fool and I admit that I'm the stupidest man in the world, but please don't go. I want you in my life and I would never forgive myself if you left."

Sara was speechless. 

"Gris-" she was interrupted by the sound of guards jumping him.

"Arrest his ass," the fattest guard huffed out.

"No, wait," Sara said. "He didn't do anything wrong! Get off him!"


	22. Chapter Twenty Two

Budding

Chapter Twenty Two

Sara stood in front of Grissom with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Let me see," she said calmly.

Grissom took the ice pack off of his eye.

"Oh my God!" Sara exclaimed as she jumped. "Put it back on."

Grissom hissed in pain as he applied the ice again. He got some pretty nasty bruises when he got jumped by the police. 

Sara explained everything, and he only got off with a warning and a fifty dollar fine.

"Everything hurts," Grissom complained.

"Good," Sara said with some venom. "It serves your ass right. Love hurts pal."

"Sara, I'm so sorry," he said earnestly. 

"Stop saying sorry," Sara said as she placed an ice pack on each knee.

"I really am," he said.

"Grissom, don't think that we're sleeping together tonight to make up," Sara said firmly. "You're going to lay your sore ass down on this couch, keep the ice on, and go to sleep."

Grissom sighed. Love did hurt indeed.

***

Catherine shook her head as she approached the table Sam Braun was sitting at. He was drinking his usual, and that didn't surprise Catherine, nor did it surprise her that he was back in her life.

"You know you scared my husband and I to death two mornings ago," Catherine said, to get his attention.

Sam turned and faced her.

"I knew I should have sent it by mail," he said with a grin. "How you feeling Mugs?"

"Bloated," she joked as she eased herself into the stool next to his at the bar. She was wearing a dress, so she was extra self conscious.

He chuckled a bit.

Catherine sighed and looked around her father's casino. He had done a lot in his life, it was just that the ways in which her tried to keep it all were a little shaky. 

She looked at the bright lights, the people, listened to the annoying music, which, on a normal non-pregnant day, she would have liked. The man she had known for years was sitting right in front of her, but the father was part of the man she would never know. 

"So, what's this I hear about you getting married?" He asked as he ordered her some water.

"I've been married for seven months now," Catherine said. "And I'm quite happy."

"So, I have another son in law to meet?" He asked.

"You don't have to meet him," Catherine said, looking away. "He uh, knows quite a bit about you, so I don't think meeting him is a good idea."

"So I can't meet the father of my grandchild?" Sam asked. "You can't shut me out of your life forever, Mugs."

"Yes I can, Sam," Catherine said with a cynical laugh. "I think I've been doing it well."

"See, that's all you do is play games," Sam said, turning to her. "I'm going to be in your life and in Lindsay's life whether you like it or not, and I'm going to be in this child's life as well."

Catherine sighed. 

"Okay," she conceded. "I'll let you see the baby when he's born and-"

"You're having a boy?" Sam asked incredulously.

"Well, we're hoping for a boy," she explained. "We don't know yet. Anyway, you can see the baby, and visit Lindsay and the baby sometimes, but don't make them beneficiaries of anything in your will. I don't want anything from you either. Just see your grandchildren and that's it."

"Have you told your mother all this?" Sam asked.

"No," Catherine said. "I will in my own time. You know we're not that close."

Sam nodded his understanding.

Catherine sighed and downed the glass of water.

"Your mother looked exactly like you look when she was pregnant," Sam commented. "She was delightfully chubby."

"Thanks Sam," Catherine said sarcastically. "No, I don't feel self conscious as it is."

"Always so vain," he laughed. "I'm happy for you Mugs."

"Thanks Sam," she said as she got off the stool carefully. "Well, I guess I better go back to meet my husband. He's waiting for me."

"Is he here?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," she said. "Why?"

"Can I at least see what he looks like?"

"Well, he's tall, dark and handsome," she said, looking over at Warrick. 

"I need a little more than that Mugs," Sam said.

"Really," she said. "He's tall, dark, handsome, with shades on." She pointed him out, and Sam saw him. 

"Oh," he said. "Well, at least there won't be any surprises or questions asked when the baby's born."

Catherine waved to Sam before waddling over to Warrick who was at the entrance.


	23. Chapter Twenty Three

Budding 

Chapter Twenty Three

Warrick was looking over some evidence in the layout room when he got a page. It was Catherine and he rushed out of work to the hospital.

"Catherine Brown," he said to the head nurse.

"She's in room seven twelve," the stout woman of about fifty told him.

Warrick went down the hall.

"Hey," he said as he walked in. He brushed a strand of hair from her face as he kissed her forehead.

"Hi," she said happily. "You're right on time."

After a few more moments of light kisses and touches, the doctor came in.

"Good afternoon Mr. and Mrs. Brown, I'm Dr. Castor," the woman said cordially. 

"Hi," Catherine and Warrick said in unison.

"So, Catherine, how has your pregnancy been so far?" Dr. Castor asked.

"Good," she said with a smile. "I'm getting a little achy, but other than that, I'm fine," Catherine said, looking up at Warrick. "I've been stuffing my face and having cravings."

Dr. Castor laughed. "I remember those days," she said. "I had to have tomato soup twenty four seven."

"It's asparagus for me," Catherine said.

"Well, that's a good source of folic acid for the baby," Dr. Castor pointed out. "Have you experienced any sudden pains, any sharp pains deep in your belly?"

"No," Catherine said.

"Have you been dizzy, unbalanced from the weight?" 

"No," Catherine said again.

"Well Catherine, you are doing very well, and it looks like you're going to deliver a very healthy baby," Dr. Castor said as she wrote the information Catherine gave her down. "Are you ready to see the baby?"

"Yeah," Catherine said with the widest smile.

"Okay, Mr. Brown, can I get you to step over to the other side of your wife for me please," the doctor asked as she moved to the other side of Catherine. "Now, Catherine can you lift up your shirt for me and lower the waistline of your pants please?"

Catherine did as she was told.

Dr. Castor felt around Catherine's smooth, round belly for the baby.

"Ah, there's the baby," she said with a smile. 

She turned on the monitor and then squeezed some gel onto Catherine's belly. Warrick panicked a little when she flinched.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Nothing," Catherine said. "The gel is a little cool."

"Sorry about that," Dr. Castor said with a slight chuckle.

The doctor placed the indicator onto Catherine's belly. Warrick was unprepared for the whole thing.

"Is that going to hurt her?" He asked.

"No," she explained. "It's just the indicator to help me see the baby. It acts as kind of like a camera."

"Relax," Catherine said, taking his hand. "It just tickles a little bit."

"And…there's your baby," the doctor said.

Catherine smiled up at Warrick as the baby appeared on the screen. It was very active and that was confirmed by the heartbeat.

"What's all that thumping?" Warrick asked.

"That's the baby's heartbeat," the doctor explained.

"Is it supposed to go that fast?"

"Yes, its normal," she said. "You have an excellently healthy baby. Would you like to know the sex?"

"Yes," Catherine said.

The doctor moved the indicator around a bit at the right spot to where she could reveal the gender.

"Congratulations, you're having a healthy baby boy," Dr. Castor said with a warm smile.

Catherine smiled up at Warrick who was in awe of the whole experience.

***

Catherine was on cloud nine at work, and everyone was happy for her. She showed everyone the pictures of the baby.

Warrick was equally happy and excited.

"Way to go man," Nick said. "So, I guess this means we'll have to go out and celebrate."

"Catherine wants a shower now that she knows for sure that we're having a boy," Warrick said. "She wants me to cook."

"Okay, that shouldn't be a problem," Nick said. "While the ladies are doting on your son to be, the men folk can go do their own thing. How 'bout it bro?"

"You bringin' the beer?" Warrick asked.

"Hell yeah!" Nick said as the shook hands.

All of a sudden, they heard someone clearing their throat from behind them. They turned and it was Catherine. She had her hands on the back of her hips and she had her head cocked to one side.

"Hey babe," Warrick said.

"What's this I hear about beer?"

"Nothing," Nick lied.

Catherine glared at him. "You are aware that the shower is going to be for women and men right?"

"Sure," Warrick said.

"So there should be no reason for you to go off somewhere else, right?"

"Right," Nick said, the fear evident in his voice because of her tone. "I'll see you later Warrick."

"He's a bad influence on you," Catherine said as she waddled up to Warrick.

He put his hands on her belly and leaned down and kissed her. 

He kept his hands on her belly for a little bit longer and he felt a kick.

"Hey," he said. "Did you feel that?"

"Yeah," Catherine said with a smile. "Feel over here."

She moved his hands to where the baby rolled over to.

"He's athletic," she said. "Ouch!"

"What?" Warrick asked as he inspected her form.

"He kicked me really hard that time," Catherine said. "You better behave in there," she said to her tummy.

The baby's response was to roll right on top of her bladder.

"Your son has a temper already," Catherine said.

"Just like his mama," Warrick called as she rushed to the restroom.

***

Sara strolled into Grissom's office.

"Hey," she said cordially as she came around the desk and placed a tender kiss on his cheek, which had a healing cut on it from Grissom's pow wow with the police.

"Hi," he said.

"Well, it's been confirmed," She said as she sat in his lap. "There is definitely going to be an Isaiah Thomas Brown."

"When is she due?" Grissom asked.

"Sometime in October," Sara said. "Catherine is kind of in her own world tonight, so try not to work her too hard."

Grissom rubbed Sara's lower back and sat back in his chair.

"Something's bothering you," Sara said matter-of-factly.

Grissom sighed before starting.

"Carvallo wants Catherine and Warrick to appear before a board of directors," he said looking straight forward. "He says that it's about 'unethical practices', but I know it's about them getting married and still working on the same shift. He's called my entire career into question, and he's threatened to demote me, and make Catherine and Warrick retire their positions as CSI level threes. He wants to put them on different shifts, and if the board allows him, he wants to transfer both of them."

"That's horrible," Sara said. "What are we going to do?"

"First, I have to tell them," he explained. "Then we tell Nick and then take things from there. I know that certain people will have our back, and some won't. We just have to ride this out."

Sara ran a hand through is salt and pepper hair and leaned down and kissed him.

"You're a good man, Grissom," she whispered. "I know you know how to handle all this. All in war with time, right?"

He looked up at her and grinned slightly. "You always know exactly what to say."

"That's not true," Sara said with a modest smile. "But I know that right now is not the time to give up. We didn't give up on us, so we shouldn't give up on Cath and Warrick."

"You should be a saint," Grissom said as he caressed her thigh.

"Santa Sara?" She tried jokingly. "Nah, it doesn't suit me. Besides, I'm no angel you know."

"You are to me," he said. "You've kept me from going down roads that I would have otherwise ventured down into."

Sara grinned and kissed him again.


	24. Chaper Twenty Four

Budding 

Chapter Twenty Four

Catherine became visibly stressed at the news about what Carvallo planned to do.

"What does it matter?" She asked. "Why is he doing this NOW, just months before the baby's born?"

Warrick, who was standing up, rubbed Catherine's back and whispered for her to calm down and go get some fresh air outside. She got up and she walked out of Grissom's office.

"Look Grissom," Warrick started. "Just send me in. Catherine has already been grilled about her mistakes, she doesn't need to go through that all over again, especially not now when she's just months from having my son."

"I'm trying to find ways around this," Grissom said. "Carvallo is on a rampage. He's done this to two other couples just in the police department. I've called him and asked him if he could hold off the appearances until a few months after the baby's born, but he won't budge. He wants Catherine in sometime late this month."

"No, she's not going in," Warrick said stubbornly. "She doesn't need this right now. She's already got hypertension. That's bad for the baby. I'm not letting her go in."

"That's not your decision to make, Mr. Brown," a cold, emotionless voice said from the doorway of the office.

Warrick had to run a hand over his face and walk to one side of the office to keep calm.

"Carvallo, I'm almost surprised to see you here," Grissom said in a tone that was less than cordial.

"I don't have time for games, Grissom," Carvallo started. "This is a serious issue. All of the cases that you've handled together since CSI Brown and Willows have been married is being called into question."

"I would really appreciate it if you would not impugn the integrity of my crew," Grissom said.

"The rest of your crew is not married to each other," Carvallo said. "Interoffice romance has been, even though it's not policy, discouraged in this department and you know that."

"I don't care what the rules and policies say," Warrick said, his anger now reduced to irritation. "I'm not letting my wife sit in front of that board."

"You are not the authority on that," Carvallo deadpanned. "CSI Willows-"

"Brown," Warrick interrupted. "She's my wife, have a little respect."

"CSI _Brown_ will be appearing before the board, no questions asked," he said. "It's a wonder you didn't let her go Grissom. She's made too many costly mistakes."

"People make mistakes," Warrick said in defense of Catherine. "Catherine's no exception."

The air in the room was thick and heavy with tension, and Warrick was stewing while Grissom talked both of them through the entire situation.

"Look," Grissom started. "Catherine is almost six months pregnant and-"

"I hardly think that sitting before a board is a hazardous situation for Catherine," Carvallo interrupted with a slight chuckle.

Warrick balled his fists at his side before letting his hands grip one of the shelves.

"Maybe not physically hazardous," Grissom started. "But stressful. She doesn't need that kind of stress at six months pregnant. She has pregnancy induced hypertension, and if she has too much stress or she's in a high pressure situation, this could be harmful to both she and the baby."

"I assure you Grissom, there is no pressure," Carvallo said. "They just want to ask her a few questions, ask her to recall the cases that she's handled in the last year or two and ask some questions about the lab explosion. That's all."

"That is pressure," Warrick said, turning to face Carvallo. "You're asking Catherine to recall all of her cases from the last year that have already been solved and vaulted, you want her to feel guilty all over again about the explosion. Why don't you ask me? I was there with her, I was her partner, I should have made sure the hot plate was off. Don't make her the only one responsible."

"You're on the hot seat too, so you have nothing to worry about," Carvallo said coldly.

"Can't this wait until after she has the baby?" Grissom said. "I agree with Warrick. This is pressure, and she doesn't need that right now. Even her doctor said so."

"I'm sorry, but the board won't wait," Carvallo said. "I promise you that they won't be harsh on her."

"Some promises are hard to keep," Grissom said.

"Look, if she doesn't appear before the board, then I'm afraid that she only has two options," Carvallo said. "Either she can be suspended without pay for an undisclosed amount of time, or she can resign."

"This isn't fair to her and you know it," Warrick said, his anger boiling over. "Catherine has worked for ten years to get to where she is now and you're asking her to throw it all away because this board of people we don't even know can't wait until she's healthy enough to go through this?"

"She needs to make a decision," Carvallo said.

"I'll testify in her behalf," Warrick said. "I'm not letting her lose her job over this. She's worked too damn hard."

All of the men were silent for a few moments before a small, shaky voice could be heard.

"I'll resign."

Warrick turned to Catherine, who was standing in the door way.

"What?" He asked, coming toward her.

"I'll resign," she repeated.

"Babe, are you sure?" Warrick asked. "You don't have to do this."

"Yes," she said, looking into his eyes. "It's about that time anyway, I guess," she said putting her hand on her belly. "You're right Warrick, I have worked hard, but in the process, I've lost sight of what's important. I'm not making this decision just because of some stupid board," she said, looking at Carvallo with a benevolence that surprised them all. "I think this is the best decision for us, for the baby, and Lindsay."

Warrick ushered her outside.

"Sweetheart," Warrick whispered. "Are you absolutely positive you want to do this? You don't have to do this. I'm sure there are other options-"

"I want to do this," Catherine said. "I think I've run my course in this job."

Warrick caressed her face.

"You're so sweet," he whispered. "I love you. I'm willing to go the extra mile with you, you know that right?"

"Yeah," she grinned. "We've done that more than once," she quipped as she put her hand back on her belly.

Warrick chuckled and he leaned down and kissed her.

***

Catherine emptied out her locker in the best way she knew how so that it accommodated her belly. She sighed with every item she put into the bag.

She had to keep reassuring herself that it was for the best.

She shoveled some items at the bottom of her locker into the bag and then she took down the pictures one by one and went through all of them. There was a Christmas picture with all of them together, then there was one of Lindsay when she was about two, and then one at her current age. There was also a picture of Catherine on the day she and Warrick went in for the first sonogram.

She put the pictures in her purse.

Sara stood at the door way for a second before entering the locker room.

"Hey," she said.

Catherine looked up. "Hi."

"So uh, you're leaving for good huh?" Sara asked as she sat next to Catherine.

"Yeah," she sighed. "I really don't want to, but it's for the best."

"It won't be the same without you," Sara said.

"Funny," Catherine chuckled. "I always thought they were going to say that about you. I'm not anything special."

"Warrick thinks so," Sara said. "I swear, if you hadn't dropped in that office, Warrick would have kicked Carvallo's ass."

"I don't doubt that," Catherine said with a smile. 

"We're friends, right?" Sara asked.

"Yeah," Catherine sighed. "We're family. Just because I won't be here anymore doesn't mean that we still can't be together. There's more to life than the lab, and I realize that now. My mother wasn't always there for me, and now I'm doing the same thing to Lindsay. I feel like she's been the one supporting me instead of it being the other way around."

"You're a great mom, Catherine," Sara said. "Lindsay loves you and Warrick."

"I know," she said. "But, I'm always thinking about my little girl and worrying if she's safe and healthy. I won't have to think about getting her to the sitter on time, or missing any of her plays, or not being there when she really needs me."

Sara put her arm around Catherine's shoulders as Catherine began to cry.


End file.
